Lucy Letby denied permission for baby murders appeal

Child serial killer Lucy Letby has been denied permission to appeal against her convictions for the murder and attempted murder of babies in her care when she worked as a neonatal nurse.

Letby, of Hereford, was convicted in August 2023 of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016.

Dame Victoria Sharp, sitting with Lord Justice Holroyde, said they had refused Letby's request to bring an appeal at a short Court of Appeal hearing earlier.

The full reasons for the judges' decision were not made public, with the full details of Letby's appeal bid also unable to be published for legal reasons.

Dame Victoria said: "Having heard her application, we have decided to refuse leave to appeal on all grounds and refuse all associated applications.

"A full judgment will be handed down in due course."

Shortly after her trial ended in August, Letby applied for leave to appeal against her convictions.

She lost the first stage of the process, in which a single judge reviewed her arguments as a paper exercise.

At a two-and-a-half day hearing last month, lawyers for the former nurse renewed efforts to bring an appeal before a panel of three judges.

As the judges have now declined to give the go-ahead for the challenge, this ruling marks the end of the appeal process for Letby.

Dame Victoria previously said it could be reported that her appeal was argued on four points related to the judge at her trial refusing legal applications.

The 34-year-old will face a retrial at Manchester Crown Court in June on a single count that she attempted to murder a baby girl, known as Child K, in February 2016.

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