A British nurse in a neonatal ward on Monday denied charges of murdering eight babies and trying to kill 10 more in the hospital where she worked.
Lucy Letby, 31, appeared for a brief hearing at Manchester Crown Court by video link from prison. She answered “not guilty” to eight charges of murder and 10 charges of attempted murder between June 2015 and June 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital, south of Liverpool in northwest England.
Police began investigating baby deaths at the hospital in 2017, and arrested and charged Letby last year. She was previously arrested twice, in 2018 and 2019, but was twice bailed pending further enquiries.
Detectives initially looked into the deaths of 15 babies between 2015 and 2016, and the probe later widened to include more than a dozen “non-fatal collapses” in infants in the same period.
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The identities of the surviving and deceased children, as well as their parents, are protected by a court order.
A judge remanded Letby in custody and said a trial lasting up to six months will be held starting in October 2022.
