{"id":407519,"date":"2026-02-04T14:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T14:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/407519\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T14:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T14:45:07","slug":"coroner-opens-inquest-into-five-babies-murdered-by-lucy-letby-lucy-letby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/407519\/","title":{"rendered":"Coroner opens inquest into five babies murdered by Lucy Letby | Lucy Letby"},"content":{"rendered":"

A coroner has formally opened inquests into the deaths of five newborn babies Lucy Letby<\/a> was convicted of murdering.<\/p>\n

In a 20-minute hearing at Cheshire<\/a> coroner\u2019s court, the senior coroner Jacqueline Devonish heard brief details of the deaths before adjourning proceedings until September.<\/p>\n

DI Darren Reid of the coroner\u2019s office, said an inquest was requested into the deaths of babies known as C, E, I, O and P as there was \u201creason to suspect an unnatural death\u201d at the Countess of Chester<\/a> hospital.<\/p>\n

Letby, 36, is serving 15 whole-life prison terms after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others in the year to June 2016.<\/p>\n

The former neonatal nurse, from Hereford, has insisted she is innocent and that babies died or became seriously unwell as a result of poor care and understaffing. Under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, the outcome of a coroner\u2019s inquest must not be inconsistent with a murder conviction in criminal proceedings.<\/p>\n

At a hearing in Warrington last week, Letby\u2019s barrister, Mark McDonald, said the law meant the inquests were \u201cnot the forum to re-litigate the convictions\u201d. However, he said it was important for the coroner to understand how each baby died and that there were \u201csystemic failings\u201d at the hospital.<\/p>\n

Richard Baker KC, representing a number of the bereaved families, told the hearing last week the inquests must not be used as a \u201ccollateral attack on the convictions\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the coroner was \u201cbound by those convictions and cannot act in any way that is inconsistent with them\u201d.<\/p>\n

Devonish told the barristers: \u201cAt this point in time, how the babies died has been determined by the verdict of a criminal trial. If there\u2019s an appeal we can revisit that question at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the coroner said she would adjourn the five inquests until the outcome of a public inquiry by Lady Justice Kathryn Thirlwall, which examined the deaths and is due to publish its report in the coming months.<\/p>\n

A provisional date for the full inquest hearings has been set for 14 to 25 September, with an internal review set for 5 May.<\/p>\n

An inquest into the death of a sixth baby, Child D, which was originally opened and suspended in 2016 was further suspended on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

An inquest into the death of a seventh newborn, Baby A, was held in October 2016 in which a narrative conclusion was recorded, saying it could not be determined what caused the child\u2019s collapse and subsequent death or whether it was due to a natural or unnatural event. The family of Baby A do not want the inquest reopened.<\/p>\n

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, has been examining the convictions since February last year.<\/p>\n

Letby has twice unsuccessfully attempted to overturn the convictions at the court of appeal in London.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors announced last month that Letby would not face further charges after considering a file of evidence from Cheshire constabulary.<\/p>\n

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had considered 11 new offences: two of murder and two of attempted murder in relation to two babies who died, and seven of attempted murder in relation to seven babies who survived.<\/p>\n

The new allegations included the alleged murder of a baby at the Countess of Chester hospital and another at Liverpool Women\u2019s hospital.<\/p>\n

However, the CPS said the evidence did not meet the test required to bring fresh charges.<\/p>\n

Cheshire constabulary is continuing an investigation into three former senior Countess of Chester bosses who were arrested last year on suspicion of alleged corporate manslaughter or gross negligence manslaughter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A coroner has formally opened inquests into the deaths of five newborn babies Lucy Letby was convicted of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-407519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}