Three people who were part of the senior leadership team at the hospital where nurse and convicted child serial killer Lucy Letby worked have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter, British police said Tuesday.
The three senior staff members, who have not been named by police, worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016 at the same time as Letby. All three suspects have been released on bail after being questioned by police on Monday.
“It is important to note that this does not impact on the convictions of Lucy Letby for multiple offences of murder and attempted murder,” Cheshire Constabulary Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes said in a statement.
The aspect of the investigation related to the latest arrests focuses on the “grossly negligent action or inaction of individuals,” police said. Meanwhile, another ongoing part of the investigation into the separate offence of corporate manslaughter “focuses on senior leadership and their decision making to determine whether any criminality has taken place concerning the response to the increased levels of fatalities.”
Letby, 34, was found guilty of murdering seven children and attempting to murder seven more between June 2015 and June 2016 while working in the neonatal unit of the hospital in Chester, England. The former nurse is serving 15 whole-life sentences.
The court heard during the case in 2023 that Letby attacked babies in her care by administering air into their blood and stomachs, overfeeding them with milk, physically assaulting them, and poisoning them with insulin.
However, her convictions have been criticized after an international panel of experts raised questions regarding the medical evidence.
The panel said there was no medical evidence indicating murder and that the babies’ collapses resulted from “either natural causes or bad medical care.”
It also highlighted issues of unsafe delays in diagnosis and treatments at Countess of Chester Hospital and said that in some cases staff were working “probably beyond their expected ability or designated level of care,” according to the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
Last week, former UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt called for an “urgent reexamination” after experts raised “serious and credible” questions.
Independent experts “are saying there is no medical evidence in the 17 deaths that were examined in the trial of what they call maleficence, of malicious intent,” Hunt said in an interview with Good Morning Britain, calling for a speedy review by the UK’s Criminal Cases Review Commission. “If they are saying that, then I really think we need to do this.”
“I am not arguing that Letby is innocent. That is not my place… The pain endured by the families affected must also be at the forefront of our minds,” Hunt wrote in a separate op-ed published in the Daily Mail newspaper last month, arguing that the families deserve the truth. “And if medical error was the cause, we can then make sure no more babies die from the same mistakes.”
Letby has maintained her innocence and her lawyer Mark McDonald submitted an application earlier this year for her case to be reviewed by the commission. Letby’s previous attempts to overturn her convictions have been refused by the court.
McDonald told the UK’s PA Media on Tuesday that a proper and full public inquiry into failings by the hospital’s neonatal and pediatric medical care unit is needed.
“The concerns many have raised will not go away, and we will continue to publicly discuss them,” McDonald said, according to PA. “The reality is that 26 internationally renowned experts have looked at this case and the lead expert has concluded that no crime was committed, no babies were murdered.”
A public government inquiry is set to be published in early 2026. That inquiry previously heard evidence from the senior hospital leadership about the concerns raised regarding the rise in infant deaths at the neonatal unit, and the actions taken as a result.
Cheshire Police said they were continuing to investigate “the deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neo-natal units of both the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Liverpool Women’s Hospital,” at which Letby undertook training placements. The elements of the investigation related to corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter are also ongoing, police said.
A spokeswoman for the Countess of Chester Hospital said it “would not be appropriate” for the hospital to comment due to “the ongoing police investigations” and public inquiry, PA reported.
