Lucy Letby: Baby-killing nurse set to face retrial over alleged attempted murder of 14th infant

Baby-killing nurse Lucy Letby will face a retrial over an alleged attempted murder of a baby girl, a court has been told.

But a lawyer acting for families of other alleged victims of the former neonatal nurse said she was “disappointed” Letby would not face new prosecutions on all the charges the jury in her previous trial was unable to reach verdicts on.

Parents had been left with “unanswered questions,” solicitor Tamlin Bolton said, “and they deserve to know what happened to their children”.

Last month Letby was found guilty of the murder of seven premature babies and the attempted murder of six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital in the UK.

She was cleared of a further two attempted murder charges, but the jury failed to reach a decision on another six charges relating to five babies.

On Monday, Letby, 33, listened via video link from New Hall prison in West Yorkshire as prosecutor Nick Johnson KC told Manchester Crown Court that a decision had been made to pursue a retrial in the case of one of the infants.

The child in question is named only Baby K, a girl who was born in February 2016.

Mr Johnson said the Crown would not be pursuing retrials over the five other charges of attempted murder

relating to two girls, Baby H and Baby J, and two boys, Baby N and Baby Q.

Jonathan Storer, the chief crown prosecutor at Mersey-Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service, said lawyers had consulted with the families of the babies involved before deciding on which charges to pursue.

Other factors, including evidence heard during the trial and its impact “on our legal test for proceeding with a prosecution”, had been considered, he added.

“These decisions on whether to seek retrials on the remaining counts of attempted murder were extremely complex and difficult,” Mr Storer said.

Letby, who was sentenced to 14 whole-life terms on August 21, has applied for leave to appeal against her convictions.

Judge Mr Justice Goss said the first available date for the retrial at the same court, which could last up to three weeks, was June 10 next year.

It is expected that any appeal by Letby if it is granted, will be heard before then.

The UK Government has also announced that there will be an independent inquiry into what happened at Chester hospital.