Three members of the senior leadership team at the hospital where Lucy Letby worked have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.
Cheshire Constabulary said the suspects, who occupied senior positions at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016, were arrested on Monday, but all have since been bailed.
Senior Officer DS Paul Hughes said: ‘In October 2023, following the lengthy trial and subsequent conviction of Lucy Letby, Cheshire Constabulary launched an investigation into corporate manslaughter at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
‘This focuses on senior leadership and their decision-making to determine whether any criminality has taken place concerning the response to the increased levels of fatalities.
‘In March 2025, the scope of the investigation widened to also include gross negligence manslaughter. This is a separate offence to corporate manslaughter and focuses on the grossly negligent action or inaction of individuals.
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‘It is important to note that this does not impact the convictions of Lucy Letby for multiple offences of murder and attempted murder.’
A spokeswoman for CoCH reiterated it ‘would not be appropriate’ for the hospital to comment due to the Thirlwall Inquiry and the ongoing police investigations.
Police are continuing a review of deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neonatal units of the Countess of Chester and Liverpool Women’s Hospital during Letby’s time as a nurse from 2012 to 2016.
Letby lost two bids last year to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeal for the seven murders and seven attempted murders, and in October for the attempted murder of a baby girl, which she was convicted of by a different jury at a retrial.
Lady Justice Thirlwall is due to publish the findings from her public inquiry in early 2026.
It comes months after Letby’s lawyer claimed ‘fresh’ evidence would ‘completely demolish’ the case, which saw her sentenced.
Mark McDonald has the full findings of a 14-strong international panel of neonatologists and paediatric specialists, who say poor medical care and natural causes were the reasons for babies collapsing at the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit.
Dr Shoo Lee, leader of the panel, said there was ‘no evidence’ Letby murdered any babies, blaming death and injuries on ‘natural causes or just bad medical care’.
The barrister has handed over those findings, as well as a separate report from seven medics which claims the results of insulin tests on two infants, which a jury concluded Letby poisoned, were unreliable, to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
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