Where Is Lucy Letby Now? A Look At the Killer Nurse’s Life In Prison After She Was Convicted of Murdering 7 Newborns By Emily Blackwood

Lucy Letby was labeled one of the most prolific child killers in U.K. history after she was convicted of murdering seven infants while working as a neonatal nurse.

Police began investigating after a senior doctor raised alarms over a spike in deaths in her ward. In one case, Dr. Ravi Jayaram testified that he saw Letby stand over an infant with a dislodged breathing tube, watching the baby’s oxygen levels drop — and doing nothing to stop it.

He stepped in, but the infant died three days later.

Following her 2020 arrest, Letby was accused of murdering seven babies (and attempting to kill 10 others) by giving the infants too much milk, air, insulin or fluid. However, a senior doctor later claimed that she likely killed and assaulted many more. 

“On reflection I think it’s likely that Letby didn’t start becoming a killer in June 2015, or didn’t start harming babies in June 2015,” consultant pediatrician Stephen Brearey said during a November 2024 public inquiry, per the BBC. “I think it’s likely that her actions prior to then, over a period of time changed what we perceived to be abnormal.”

She pleaded not guilty to all counts and was convicted in August 2023. The former nurse was ultimately handed 15 life sentences, which she started appealing the following month.

So where is Lucy Letby now? Here’s everything to know about the British nurse convicted of killing multiple babies and where her appeal stands.  

Who is Lucy Letby?

Letby is a former neonatal nurse who worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital in England. She started her job in 2011, and up until January 2015, the deaths in her ward were statistically comparable to other hospitals. 

Between 2015 and 2016, prosecutor Nick Johnson claimed that there was a “significant rise” in deaths and “serious catastrophic collapses.” Consultants later concluded that those deaths were “not medically explicable and were the result of the actions of Lucy Letby.”

After being alerted to the nurse’s suspicious behavior, the Cheshire Constabulary started investigating the deaths in May 2017. She was arrested three times, once in 2018 and again in 2019, and was remanded in custody in 2020.  

What did Lucy Letby do?

Letby was accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill 10 more. Seven of the infants died as a result of excess milk, insulin, air or fluid. Some of the children allegedly survived multiple attacks before they died. 

“The collapses of all 17 children concerned were not ‘naturally occurring tragedies,’ ” Johnson told the jury during Letby’s trial in 2022, where she faced a total of 22 charges. “They were all the work, we say, of the woman in the dock, who we say was the constant, malevolent presence when things took a turn for the worse for these 17 children.”

Witnesses testified that they saw Letby overfeed infants, and prosecutors argued that she injected air into some of their stomachs or bloodstreams. One of her surviving victims’ parents claimed that their child had “irreversible brain damage” and quadriplegia cerebral palsy due to being given excess milk and air. 

Related Stories

Lucy Letby Trial: The 5 Most Disturbing Allegations Against British Nurse as Prosecutors Rest Case

Hospital Where Lucy Letby Worked Being Investigated for ‘Corporate Manslaughter’ After Deaths of Infants

One former co-worker claimed that the former nurse told her off when she tried to assist her with a distressed infant. “I was shocked because you can’t have enough help in that situation,” Lisa Walker testified, per the BBC. “[I was] quite taken aback and shocked because it’s something you would not expect a nurse to say.”

The prosecution also presented conflicting handwritten notes investigators had found in Letby’s home, where she both seems to admit to the murders, writing that she “killed them on purpose,” and claim her innocence, noting that she hasn’t “done anything wrong.”

What was Lucy Letby’s sentence?

In August 2023, Letby was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder six others — 14 of her 22 counts.

The former neonatal nurse was given a total of 15 life sentences by July 2024, following a retrial over one child involved in her case. 

Will Lucy Letby’s case be appealed?

Letby started seeking permission to file an appeal against her convictions in September 2023, but the Court of Appeal in London rejected the bid in May 2024. 

The strength of Letby’s convictions has continued to be debated. During a February 2025 press conference held by her defense team, a group of top medical experts claimed to have found “significant new evidence” that the former nurse did not cause harm to any babies in her care. Instead, they claimed that the infants died of “natural causes or errors in medical care,” The Guardian and BBC reported.  

That same month, Letby sent an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body that reviews potential miscarriages of justice. Whether or not they’ll accept the application remains to be seen. 

In June 2025, three former senior staff members at Countess of Chester Hospital were arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter as part of the Cheshire Constabulary’s ongoing investigation into the babies’ deaths. 

Where is Lucy Letby now?

Letby has been incarcerated at HMP Low Newton in Durham, England, since her conviction in 2023.

According to The Guardian, the high-security prison is home to some of Britain’s most notable criminals, including Joanna Dennehy, the first woman to receive a whole life order at her sentencing.