Inquests into deaths of five babies murdered by Lucy Letby to open
Coroner to begin proceedings into deaths at Countess of Chester Hospital
Formal inquests into the deaths of five babies murdered by Lucy Letby are set to begin this week at Cheshire coroner's court in Warrington.
Jacqueline Devonish, HM senior coroner for Cheshire, is expected to open, adjourn and suspend hearings into the deaths of Baby C, Baby E, Baby I, Baby O and Baby P.
The infants died at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016 while Letby was working in the hospital’s neo-natal unit as a nurse.
If the cases proceed to full inquests, provisional dates have been set for between 14th and 25th September 2024, contingent on the findings of a public inquiry led by Lady Justice Thirlwall into how Letby was able to carry out her crimes.
That inquiry report is scheduled for release after Easter.
Letby, who is from Hereford, is currently serving 15 life sentences at HMP Bronzefield.
She is represented by barrister Mark McDonald at the inquests.
Letby was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others between June 2015 and June 2016.
In another case linked to Letby, a previous inquest into the death of Baby A concluded in 2016, recording that it could not determine the cause of the child’s collapse or death as either natural or unnatural.
Concerns raised by consultant paediatricians about Letby’s conduct were not included in that inquest, though she was removed from clinical duties in July 2016. Cheshire Constabulary began investigating increased baby deaths at the hospital in May 2017.
Separately, the Crown Prosecution Service recently declined to bring further charges against Letby over suspected offences of murder and attempted murder relating to two infants who died and seven who survived, citing insufficient evidence in those cases.
Letby twice failed in attempts to appeal her convictions earlier this year.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission is now reviewing evidence submitted by an international panel of medics who claim alternative explanations for the infants' collapses.