Blow for Letby families as prosecutors stand by decision against further charges involving six more infants following review
Prosecutors have declined to bring further charges against Lucy Letby over the deaths and collapses of six additional infants, dealing a setback to affected families after a review of the evidence. The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed it would not proceed with new charges, meaning those families will not see a criminal case brought over their children's cases despite earlier hopes that further prosecutions might follow the original trials.
Letby, a former neonatal nurse, was previously convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder multiple others at the Countess of Chester Hospital, with her convictions the subject of ongoing appeals and public scrutiny. The decision not to pursue additional charges over the six further infants closes off, for now, one avenue some families had pursued in seeking further accountability, though the article does not detail whether any alternative routes, such as inquests or civil action, remain open to them.
- Prosecutors won't charge Letby over six more infant cases.
- Decision follows a review requested by affected families.
- Letby was already convicted of murdering seven babies.
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Prosecutors decided in 2023 that Lucy Letby, a former neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital, murdered seven babies and tried to murder several others while working on the hospital's neonatal unit. She was convicted after two trials and is serving multiple whole-life terms, though her legal team has continued to challenge the safety of those convictions.
Alongside the original cases, police and prosecutors also looked at the deaths or collapses of six further infants at the same hospital, after questions were raised about whether other incidents might be linked to her. Some families of those babies had hoped this review might lead to fresh criminal charges.
The Crown Prosecution Service has now confirmed it will not bring charges over these six additional cases, a decision reached after assessing the available evidence against the legal threshold needed to prosecute. This matters because it affects whether some families see any criminal justice process over their children's cases, and it comes against the backdrop of wider, ongoing scrutiny of the Letby convictions themselves.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Advocates for the CPS's position would argue that criminal charges must meet a demanding evidential threshold, and that bringing prosecutions without a realistic prospect of conviction would be both unjust to the accused and a false promise to grieving families, likely to collapse under scrutiny given the statistical and expert-evidence controversies already surrounding the original trial. They would also point to the risk that weaker cases, if pursued and lost, could retrospectively undermine confidence in the convictions already secured, and that prosecutors have a duty to apply the same rigorous, dispassionate standard regardless of public or media pressure.
The case against
Families and their supporters would argue that closing off further charges leaves serious unanswered questions about additional infants who suffered harm or death in the same unit during the same period, denying them the accountability and public examination a criminal trial could provide. They would say that given the scale of concern already established by the original convictions, the benefit of the doubt should favour further judicial scrutiny rather than an administrative decision to stand down, and that families deserve the chance to see all available evidence tested in open court rather than have the matter closed without full public explanation.