Nurse appears in court over murder of eight babies in hospital
A nurse accused of the murders of eight babies in a yearlong killing spree at a hospit a l n e o n a t a l u n i t h a s b e e n remanded in custody.
Lucy Letby, 30, is alleged to have murdered five baby boys a n d t h r e e b a b y g i r l s wh i l e wor k i n g a t t h e C o u n te s s o f Chester Hospital.
She i s a l s o a c c u s e d o f t h e attempted murder of five baby b oys and five baby girls, all between June 2015 and June 1016.
The charges took just over two and a half minutes to read out in full when the defendant appeared by video-link at Warrington Magistrates' Court on Thursday morning.
Letby spoke in a strong, clear voice, giving her name, date of birth and address at the start of the brief ten-minute hearing. The defendant appeared on video sitting in front of a desk, beside her solicitor, par tially shaded, in a room at Blacon
police station. Pascale Jones, prosecuting, told the court Letby should be remanded into custody for her own safety.
S h e s a i d : "T h e c r ow n wi l l also stress there is substantial grounds to believe for her own protection this defendant should be remanded into custody."
The eight counts of murder of a victim under one year old are: Cemlyn Bennett, Joseph Johnson, Elsie Mcnall, Barney Gee, Daisy Parkin, Maddie Freed, Joseph Gelder and Eli Gelder.
The ten charges of attempted murder are each of potential victims under one year old, one count of which includes Maddie Freed.
D i s t r i c t J u d g e N i c h o l a s S a n d e r s i mp o s e d a n o r d e r restricting the reporting of the names of the surviving babies subject to the attempted murder charges.
On ly t wo memb ers o f t h e press were allowed into the courtroom, with a dozen more in an annex courtroom next door, watching via videolink and more lo cked out of the court building due to restricted access because of social distancing measures. Families of the babies were also watching the proceedings via the same link at remote locations.
Letby, of Arran Avenue, Hereford, was arrested in 2018 and 2019 as part of the police investigation into the Countess of Chester Hospital, which began in 2017. She was arrested for a t h i r d t i me o n Tu e s d ay a n d charged last night with the 18 offences."