Child killer Letby to find out if she can appeal against her convictions

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Child serial killer Lucy Letby is set to find out whether her bid to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeal has been successful.

At a two-and-a-half day hearing last month, Letby’s lawyers asked senior judges for the go-ahead to bring an appeal against all her convictions.

Dame Victoria Sharp, Lord Justice Holroyde and Mrs Justice Lambert are expected to give their decision on the appeal bid at a short hearing on Friday.

In August 2023, Letby, of Hereford, was convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016.

The full details of Letby’s appeal bid, which was argued on four points, cannot currently be reported for legal reasons.

Dame Victoria previously said it could be reported that it was the submission of Letby’s legal team that the judge at her trial wrongly refused legal applications during that trial.

Lawyers for the former nurse, 34, were renewing efforts to bring an appeal before the panel of three judges.

If the judges decline to give the go-ahead for the challenge, it will mark the end of the appeal process for Letby.

The full reasons for the judges’ decision are not expected to be made public on Friday.

The jury in Letby’s trial at Manchester Crown Court was unable to reach verdicts on six counts of attempted murder in relation to five children.

She will face a retrial at the same court in June on a single count that she attempted to murder a baby girl, known as Child K, in February 2016.

A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of the surviving and dead children who were the subject of the allegations.

Friday’s hearing in London is due to begin at 10am.