Killer nurse Lucy Letby's conviction appeal to be heard by judges in April

Child serial killer Lucy Letby’s bid to challenge her convictions is due to be considered by the Court of Appeal at a hearing in April.

Lawyers for Letby will ask senior judges for permission to bring an appeal against all her convictions at the hearing in London provisionally listed for April 25, a judiciary spokeswoman confirmed on Friday. The nurse, 34, had an initial application to take forward her challenge refused by a single judge without a hearing last month.

But she is able to renew her efforts before a panel of three judges at the hearing in nine weeks’ time. If judges again decline to give permission, it will mark the end of the appeal process for Letby.

In August 2023 NHS worker Letby, of Hereford, was sentenced to 14 whole-life orders after she was convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others, with two attempts on one of her victims.

The offences took place at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit, where Letby worked as a nurse, between June 2015 and June 2016. 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.