Lucy Letby: Corporate manslaughter probe at Chester hospital

Letby will spend the rest of her life in prison after being convicted following a lengthy trial

Police are investigating possible corporate manslaughter at the hospital where serial killer Lucy Letby worked.

The former nurse, 33, was jailed in August for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Cheshire Police said the latest investigation was in its early stages.

Lawyers representing some of the victims' families said they were "reassured" steps were being taken to consider the actions of management.

Organisations and companies can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter as a result of serious management failures resulting in a gross breach of a duty of care under The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

Det Supt Simon Blackwell, of Cheshire Police, said the inquiry would focus on the indictment period of the charges for Letby from June 2015 to June 2016.

He said the investigation would consider areas "including senior leadership and decision making to determine whether any criminality has taken place".

"At this stage we are not investigating any individuals in relation to gross negligence manslaughter," he added.

He added that the force was "unable to go into any further details or answer specific questions" at present.

"We recognise that this investigation will have a significant impact on a number of different stakeholders including the families in this case and we are continuing to work alongside and support them during this process," he said.

"You will be notified of any further updates in due course."

Tamlin Bolton, a solicitor at Switalskis which represents the families of seven babies attacked by Letby, said: "We are reassured that some steps are now being taken to consider the actions of management from a criminal perspective.

"It will be for the CPS and the police to determine now if the conduct of the senior management at the Countess of Chester Hospital fell so far below what could reasonably have been expected of them, that their actions caused or contributed to the deaths of those seven children."

Letby, originally from Hereford, lodged an appeal against her whole life order sentence last month.

She is due to face a retrial next year on an outstanding charge of attempting to murder a baby girl.