A former neonatal nurse who had previously been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of seven infants under her care and the attempted murder of another six in a UK hospital will now face a new trial for another attempted murder of a newborn girl, the prosecution announced on Monday.

 

Also of interest: British nurse killed 7 babies and tried to kill 6 more

 

Lucy Letby, 33, received her sentence last month, which included life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, after a jury found her guilty of murdering seven babies in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England during the period from 2015 to 2016. She was also convicted of attempting to murder six other infants.

However, during the lengthy 10-month trial, the jury, consisting of seven women and four men, failed to reach verdicts on six charges of attempted murder involving five newborns. Two of these charges related to a single newborn.

The Crown Prosecution Service announced on Monday its intention to proceed with a new trial related to one of these pending charges, which pertains to a girl identified only as "Child K" and occurred in February 2016.

Letby, who is currently in prison, participated in Monday's hearing via a video call and only confirmed her name during the proceedings.

The provisional date for the new trial has been set for June 10, 2024.

It is important to note that Letby received the maximum penalty allowed under British law, which prohibits the death penalty. A judge emphasized that her behavior demonstrated "malice bordering on sadism." To date, only three more women have been sentenced so severely in the UK.

The charges against the former nurse included deliberately harming infants in various ways, such as injecting air into their bloodstream, administering air or milk through nasogastric tubes, poisoning them with insulin through intravenous feeding, and interfering with their breathing tubes. The victims remained anonymous and were identified only by letters."

 

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