The Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime Division has upheld its January ruling not to press additional charges against Lucy Letby, a British neonatal nurse who became the most prolific child serial killer in modern Britain’s history.

The CPS, responsible for public prosecutions in England and Wales, said on Wednesday that the development followed an “extensive” review of evidence by an independent prosecutor, involved in its initial decision not to authorise charges. 

The head of the CPS, Malcolm McHaffie, said in a statement that the families of six babies requested a review of its ruling under the Victims’ Right to Review (VRR) scheme.

“An extensive review of the case by a prosecutor independent of the original decisions, involving a re-examination of substantial evidence and material, has now been completed.

“Six offences of attempted murder were reconsidered in relation to six babies, but the review upheld the original decision not to bring any further criminal charges,” Mr McHaffie said.

In its January decision, the CPS said it reviewed evidence from Cheshire Constabulary and decided that no charges would be brought against Ms Letby, 36, over additional deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

It added that officials wrote to the victims’ families “and will offer meetings to answer any further questions. Our thoughts remain with them.”

Under the VRR, victims or their families are allowed to request independent review of CPS’s decision not to start or stop a prosecution.

Ms Letby from Hereford was convicted of murdering seven newborns and attempting to kill six others. She is serving 15 whole life terms. 

She was first charged in 2020 after a criminal investigation by the Cheshire police focused on the deaths of 17 babies from March 2015 to July 2016. 

Ms Letby was later charged with the murder of seven infants and an attempted murder of 10 others while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital in the city of Chester in northwestern England between June 2015 and June 2016.

Her responsibility was to care for premature and vulnerable babies. 

During her trial in 2023, members of the jury heard distressing evidence that the nurse deliberately harmed the babies in her care by poisoning them and injecting them with milk, air, and insulin.