A British nurse was charged in the murder of eight babies and attempted murder of 10 others after being arrested for the third time in connection with the horrific crimes at a UK hospital’s neonatal unit since 2016, according to reports.
Lucy Letby, 30, who worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital, was arrested after a three-year probe that was launched after the facility raised an alarm about the large number of deaths there between March 2015 and July 2016, The U.S. Sun reported.
The hospital in Cheshire, southeast of Liverpool, conducted an internal inquiry when health-care workers found that premature babies had suffered heart and lung failures, according to the outlet.
“The Crown Prosecution Service has authorized Cheshire Police to charge a healthcare professional with murder in connection with an ongoing investigation into a number of baby deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital,” according to a statement.
“Lucy Letby, of Arran Avenue, Hereford, is facing eight charges of murder and 10 charges of attempted murder,” it added.
According to police, parents of the victims have been kept apprised of the horrific developments, New York Post reported.
“A dedicated team of detectives have been working extremely hard on this highly complex and very sensitive case doing everything they can as quickly as they can to identify what has led to these baby deaths and collapses,” said Detective Chief Inspector Paul Hughes, who is in charge of the probe, The Sun reported.
“This is an extremely difficult time for all the families and it is important to remember that, at the heart of this, there are a number of bereaved families seeking answers as to what happened to their children,” he added.
Authorities had been investigating the deaths of 17 babies between 2015 and 2016, and another 16 “nonfatal collapses,” described as when an infant’s health severely declined but the child survived, according to the Sun. However, reports did not clearly indicate how Letby was responsible for the “heart and lung failures” of the babies who died.
Letby is expected to appear in Warrington Magistrates’s Court later Thursday.
