Child killer Lucy Letby won’t face further criminal charges

Serial baby killer Lucy Letby will not be facing any more charges despite police investigating her alleged involvement into nine other deaths.

Letby, from Hereford, murdered seven infants and attempted to kill seven more between June 2015 and June 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital – making her the UK’s most prolific child killer.

Police had passed on a file of evidence relating to the murder of two babies and the attempted murder of seven more.

But the Crown Prosecution Service said the evidence did not meet the standard for any more charges.

The news will come as a blow to the families involved in the investigation, who believe the 36-year-old harmed their child under their care.

And officers have already warned her following, who are conviced she is innocent, to not ‘celebrate’ the news.

Cheshire Constabulary said: ‘This is not the outcome that we had anticipated throughout our investigation; we were confident that we held enough evidence to take to the CPS.

‘We submitted files for charging decisions in relation to nine babies – for consideration of nine offences of attempted murder and two of murder.

‘We believed the evidence submitted met the CPS charging standard.  The CPS did not agree and despite our representations we must respect the decision that has been made.

‘There will be some who will feel that this is news worth celebrating. We do not share this view and would ask that people respect the privacy and feelings of the families involved.’

Letby is serving 15 whole-life orders for the murders she was found guilty of at Manchester Crown Court.

She had injected her victims with air into their bloodstreams or via their nasal feeding tubes.

She also overfed some with milk, poisoned them with insulin and tampered with breathing tubes.

A search of her home unearthed notes with ‘I am evil I did this’ scrawled over the page.

Following her convictions, detectives said they would continue investigating deaths that occurred throughout her four-year career as a neo-natal nurse.

Mark McDonald, barrister at Furnival Chambers, commented: ‘Lucy Letby has always maintained her innocence – she has never hurt a child and never would.

‘It is vital that the case is now referred back to the Court of Appeal as a matter of urgency.

’31 reports have been submitted to the CCRC, compiled by 26 internationally renowned experts, which provide overwhelming evidence that no babies were murdered.

‘The reality is that a young innocent woman is in prison for crimes she has not committed.’

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