British killer nurse Lucy Letby loses appeal bid for attempted baby murder conviction

Undated handout file photo issued by Cheshire Constabulary of child serial killer Lucy Letby. (Cheshire Constabulary via AP)

LONDON — British killer nurse Lucy Letby lost her bid Thursday to challenge her conviction for the attempted murder of a baby girl in her care.

Letby, 34, is serving multiple life sentences with no chance of release after being convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to murder seven others while working as a neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwestern England between June 2015 and June 2016.

Her attorney argued that her retrial in July on a charge of attempting to kill an infant identified in court as Child K in February 2016 should not have gone ahead because it was overshadowed by “overwhelming and irremediable prejudice” from news coverage of her first trial in 2023.

The retrial was held after Manchester Crown Court jurors failed to reach a verdict on the charge involving Child K.

Letby, who testified that she never harmed a child, has continued to proclaim her innocence. She watched the hearing from a prison video link and showed no emotion when judges denied her petition to appeal.

The court issued a similar decision in May in her effort to appeal her multiple earlier convictions.

The ruling comes as an inquiry is underway to examine failures by the hospital to recognize why babies were dying in the neonatal unit and to stop Letby sooner.