Child serial killer, Lucy Letby’s attempt to appeal her convictions for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill another six has today been rejected by the Court of Appeal.
The former nurse, 34, filed an application for permission to appeal the convictions in September. But a judicial spokesperson said that a judge in the Court of Appeal has refused this application.
Letby was given 14 whole life orders with no chance of parole for the murder of seven newborn babies and attempting to kill six others while she worked at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester hospital between 2015 and 2016.
Letby was also stripped of her nursing credentials after a panel ordered she be struck off from the register at a Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing in December
The panel found she was unfit to practise nursing before it went on to make the striking-off order, a move they have heard Letby does not resist, despite maintaining her innocence in respect of her convictions.
Her quashed application to appeal all her convictions can be renewed within 14 days at a full court hearing before two or three judges.
Letby was moved to HMP Bronzefield from Low Newton jail in County Durham.
It was revealed this month that Letby has since been given a key to her own cell in the Category A prison, as an insider said her cushy new life on the inside as being like a ‘hotel – but you’re surrounded by criminals’.
Having the key to her cell means that Letby, 34, can lock herself away from fellow inmates if she feels threatened by them.
It is believed that keys are handed to the residents of category A HMP Bronzefield as a reward for good behaviour on the inside.
A source told the Sunday People that the VIP arrangement means Letby can socialise if she wants to, but can also have privacy if she wants.
They said it was ‘no different to living in a hotel – but you’re surrounded by criminals’.
Letby is also said to gave bonded with Michelle Smith, a woman who murdered her own 42-day-old baby, and Shauna Hoare, who helped kill 16-year-old schoolgirl Becky Watts.
A source told the Mirror that the trio of killers had been playing board games together and sat with each other when it came to eating meals.
‘They were together 24 hours a day – they were a well-known threesome and were literally never apart,’ they said.
In September, it was announced that the serial killer will face a retrial over one count of attempted murder of a newborn baby girl, known only as ‘Baby K’.
Nick Johnson KC, for the prosecution, told Manchester Crown Court that a decision had been made to pursue a retrial in the case of Baby K, a girl born in February 2016.
The child’s parents were in court to hear the announcement. Letby attended the hour-long hearing via video link while her parents were absent.
The prosecution is not pursuing a retrial on the five other charges of attempted murder, relating to four babies – two girls, Baby H and Baby J, and two boys, Baby N and Baby Q.
Letby refused to come up from the cells when Mr Justice Goss sentenced her to 14 whole life terms following her convictions on August 21. She has applied for leave to appeal her convictions.
