NHS nurse in court over ‘murder’ of eight babies
A NURSE accused of killing eight babies at an NHS hospital in the space of 18 months has been remanded in custody.
Lucy Letby, 30, faces eight counts of murder and ten charges of attempted murder in a neonatal unit after being arrested for a third time on Tuesday.
Her alleged victims – all children under a year old – were Maddie Freed, Cemlyn Bennett, Joseph Johnson, Elsie McNall, Barney Gee, Daisy Parkin and twins Eli and Joseph Gelder.
She is also accused of an earlier failed bid to kill Maddie, and of the attempted murders of nine other infants.
Letby, of Hereford, appeared by videolink from Chester’s Blacon police station for a ten-minute hearing yesterday at Warrington magistates’ court.
It took judge Nicholas Sanders twoand-a-half minutes to read out the charges, while families of the victims watched the court proceedings remotely.
No pleas were entered, and the accused spoke only to confirm her name, date of birth and home address.
‘Today’s court hearing is for a number of matters. I won’t be taking any plea,’ the judge told her before she was remanded. ‘Today is a preliminary hearing to send to the crown court.’ Prosecutor Pascale Jones said: ‘There is substantial grounds to believe for her own protection this defendant should be remanded into custody.’ An investigation into the deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016 began three years ago.
Letby had started work at the neonatal unit as a student before qualifying as a children’s nurse from the University of Chester in 2011, and worked there again after graduating.
She will appear at Chester crown court at 2.15pm today.