Prosecutors consider further charges against Lucy Letby
Letby, 35, is serving life in jail after being found guilty of murdering seven newborns and attempting to kill eight more at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital in northern England between June 2015 and June 2016.
Letby has been named the UK's most prolific child killer in modern times. She has maintained her innocence.
Her lawyers are seeking to have the case reviewed, saying there are serious doubts over whether she was guilty of any crimes.
But Letby has been refused permission to appeal.
However, following her convictions, police said they were investigating whether she had committed further crimes, and the Crown Prosecution Service said it was now examining the evidence.
"We will now carefully consider the evidence to determine whether any further criminal charges should be brought."
It said a referral by police did not mean charges would follow.
Since Letby was jailed, some lawmakers and medical experts have publicly challenged the prosecution evidence that was used to find her guilty, with some experts querying whether any babies had actually been murdered at all.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission, which examines potential miscarriages of justice, is currently considering an application from Letby's legal team, and her lawyer Mark McDonald claimed on Wednesday the evidence of her innocence was "overwhelming".
"We will cross every bridge when we get to it but if Lucy is charged I know we have a whole army of internationally renowned medical experts who will totally undermine the prosecution's unfounded allegations," Mr McDonald said in a statement.
On Tuesday, detectives said they had arrested three unnamed senior members of the hospital's leadership team as part of their separate investigation into individuals and the Chester hospital itself.
"Both the corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter elements of the investigation are continuing and there are no set timescales for these," said Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes, who is leading the investigation.
The CPS said it had not yet been asked to consider any charges in relation to the investigation into the staff or the hospital itself.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


SBS Australia
an hour ago
- SBS Australia
Men jailed for felling UK's iconic Sycamore Gap tree
On a dark and stormy night in September 2023, Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers set out with a chainsaw to bring down a tree in the British county of Northumberland. But it wasn't just any tree - it was the Sycamore Gap tree, which stood at the centre of a dramatic dip in the landscape alongside the historic World Heritage Listed Hadrian's Wall in northern England, and estimated to be around 200 years old. The sycamore even featured in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. "Azeem, the great wood. I am home." Both men were each convicted of two counts of criminal damage in May. The pair have now been jailed by Judge Christina Lambert for what prosecutors called their act of "mindless destruction". "Mr Daniel Graham, Mr Adam Carruthers, I pass the same sentence in respect of you. The sentence is on count one, four years and three months imprisonment." Both denied any involvement in the felling of the tree at first but evidence to the court placed both of them at the scene - which included footage on Graham's mobile phone of a tree being chainsawed in the dead of night. The court also heard the pair had bragged about what they'd done. Neither man has explained why they did it, though Carruthers' lawyer Andrew Gurney described it as "drunken stupidity". The Judge didn't accept that, ruling that it was clearly deliberate and premeditated over a tree that was beloved in the community and known across the world. "For those who live in Northumberland or who love this county, the tree had become a landmark, a symbol of the beauty of its untamed landscape, featuring prominently in local art and local tourism. For others, the tree had become a place, a special personal significance where marriages were proposed and personal tributes to loved ones were left. It was, as Mr Poad (NATIONAL TRUST MANAGER ANDREW POAD WHO GAVE EVIDENCE) observes, a place of peace and tranquillity to which people returned year after year." The Sycamore Gap tree's destruction was met with fury and dismay across the UK, as these residents told the BBC. WOMAN: "Very sad. It makes you wonder why this has happened." MAN: "It was anger initially. When I found out that it was actually malicious - like a malicious act that caused it - now it's just sad." Reaction to the sentence has been mixed. Some say the prison sentence should have been even harsher. MAN: "Terrible to be honest. Yeah, yeah. Terrible. Should have got a lot more..." WOMAN: "The sentence reflects public disgust and anger." Others believe the punishment should have been tailored to fit the crime. "I'm not sure putting them in prison is the right thing to do. I just think community service, just spending a long, long time planting trees, particularly in weather like this..." Meanwhile, work to save what's left of the iconic tree goes on. Last week, the Northumberland National Park said the largest part of the tree would go on display in an installation located not far from where it once stood. And the National Trust, a heritage conservation charity which looks after the site, has collected twigs and seeds from around the base, in the hopes of promoting regrowth. It said last August there were signs of life at the base, giving hope it might live on.

ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
How inquest into fatal police shooting of Kumanjayi Walker lays a path for Warlpiri control
Sitting around the campfire in the red dust of Yuendumu, Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves tells me stories of the ancient Warlpiri customs that created clear lines of authority, and then, about his old people who were forced to work on pastoral stations for meagre rations. In the shadow of the protection era (1890s-1950s), Warlpiri people lived as wards of the state — bound by invisible chains, forbidden to roam their homelands, and silenced from speaking their language. Generations have fought to reclaim control, and the community continues to demand the return of autonomy — something they say could prevent deaths in custody. "We want to control our business," Ned said. "We don't want Kardiya (non-Indigenous people) to come and tell us what to do; that's got to stop." It is the day after Coroner Elisabeth Armitage visited the community — three hours north-west of Alice Springs — to deliver her findings on the 2019 police shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker. In the glow of the central desert community's live music stage, Ned's face grows serious as a sad and soulful reggae song hums. He shares with me that as the six-year fight for justice for Walker draws to a close, he must wake up tomorrow and meet with lawyers for a new fight. His jaja (grandson), Kumanjayi White, another Warlpiri man who lived with cognitive disabilities, died while being apprehended by plain-clothed police on the floor of the confectionery aisle at the Alice Springs Coles in May. Exhausted does not begin to describe how Ned and his family are feeling, but they are also frustrated. Frustrated that his vision, resilience, and deep understanding of what is best for Yapa (his people) has been ignored for decades. The Walker Inquest found the constable who shot Walker in Yuendumu in 2019 and was acquitted of all charges, Zachary Rolfe, held racist views. Walker's death "was avoidable", it found, and "a stark example of officer-induced jeopardy." Judge Elisabeth Armitage identified "clear evidence of entrenched, systemic and structural racism" within the institution Rolfe worked for — the NT Police. This is not something you can fix overnight with the rollout of an anti-racism plan. Systemic change can take generations. Kumanjayi Walker's cousin, Samara Fernandez-Brown, says asking the NT Police to become "safe" for Aboriginal people is unsustainable. "It's a band-aid solution, so I'd like to see a structure that replaces that altogether," Ms Fernandez-Brown said in Yuendumu last week. The Walker findings backed Aboriginal-led solutions and a return to Warlpiri controlling their own affairs. Judge Armitage called for the development of a 10-year youth strategy for Yuendumu, the expansion of night patrol services, a comprehensive review of available youth programs — including on-country rehabilitation and diversion options — and the potential establishment of a local leadership group to guide these efforts. "The solutions have already existed prior to the [2007 federal government] intervention," Ms Fernandez-Brown said. "We're hoping that these recommendations around community authority and a leadership group allow us to get back to that spot." In the wake of these findings, there is a unique opportunity for organisations and agencies to recognise Warlpiri leadership and build genuine partnerships, a move Ms Fernandez-Brown says will "prevent deaths in custody." The inquest into Kumanjayi Walker's death dug deep into a long history of colonial violence and the wounds it left behind. From the 1920s, hordes of gold prospectors and pastoralists moved to Warlpiri Country, putting strain on the only permanent water source, Pikilyi. Judge Armitage found that Warlpiri people were denied access to water and forced to work in conditions resembling slavery, with reports of people being "tied up and flogged," and women and girls raped and abducted. In 1928, the Coniston Massacre saw dozens, possibly hundreds, of Warlpiri, Anmatyerre, and Kaytetye people killed in state-sanctioned reprisals after the death of a dingo trapper. Led by a former WWI veteran turned NT police constable, the attacks went unpunished, with no convictions for any of the killings. The massacre lives on in Warlpiri memory, passed down through generations. Yuendumu became a rations depot in 1946 with the stated aim to "control the shift of Aborigines (sic) to towns", and some children were stolen from the community and institutionalised in hopes they would "integrate" into white society. Finally, in the 1970s, the idea returned that Warlpiri could lead. Federal government policies enabled community governance structures grounded in Warlpiri customary decision-making until the mid 90s, when Yuendumu had at least 13 community-controlled organisations. Judge Armitage heard evidence that this period was one of "vibrant … intercultural activity, involving Warlpiri and Western attitudes and cultural practices being worked into new and productive engagements, in the context of mutual respect relationships." She found that during the 90s, elders in Yuendumu had strong lines of communication with police. But she documented how the so-called "Intervention" systematically undermined and dismantled Warlpiri authority from 2007 onwards. It imposed compulsory income management, compulsory leasing of Aboriginal land, dispossessed traditional owners of recognition and authority, levied financial penalties for failure to comply with the Community Development Program, boosted police numbers, and brought powers allowing police to enter houses without a warrant. Community government councils were abolished by the NT government and amalgamated into eight centralised shires. Judge Armitage found this undercut Warlpiri authority and further diminished job opportunities. Housing was used as a practical example: instead of local workers fixing issues like a blocked toilet immediately, the centralised shire system left tenants waiting three to four months for minor repairs. The federal government's Intervention was meant to last for five years, but blew out another decade under the "Stronger Futures" legislation introduced in 2012. Judge Armitage heard evidence from associate professor Melinda Hinkson that, without consultation, the intervention's core measures snatched authority from traditional owners and were an increase in "the punitive governance and policing of the Warlpiri community by external authorities and officials". Kumanjayi Walker's family would have liked stronger recommendations about police accountability, but the question remains, what worth are such suggestions when the government is in no way legally obliged to implement them? Barrister John Lawrence SC, who didn't work on Kumanjayi Walker's case but represented families in many coronial inquests into Black deaths in custody and the royal commission into NT youth detention, said the inquest's value was in providing a comprehensive historical analysis of racism in the NT Police. "Its findings on that are unequivocal and damning: a force riddled with systemic racism which allowed a totally inappropriate man (Rolfe) into the force and who then permitted him and others to, it seems, have a ball at the expense of Aboriginal people," he said. "He should have been fired way before the killing incident." Rolfe has rejected the coroner's findings and says his actions were "never about race". He is considering appealing the inquest's findings. Judge Armitage called the racism within the NT Police "grotesque". Hearing this was validating for Kumanjayi Walker's family, but without police accountability reforms, Yuendumu is focusing on alternate ways they can avoid it happening again. Families see a clear path toward greater autonomy and believe that with increased resources and support, Yuendumu can shape a future where youth are no longer caught in the justice system, and where the excessive use of force by police against Aboriginal people is truly a thing of the past. "Our people have the solutions; we need to take back our rights to run our community and to have peace," Ned said. "If I could have one (recommendation implemented) today, it would be an independent ombudsman for NT police complaints, but we want investment in community and divestment from police," Ms Fernandez-Brown said. "We want that to be centred around Warlpiri and mob, by doing that it's going to prevent deaths in custody because there will be programs that offer alternative pathways." Our communities don't need saving. Our communities don't need saviours … and that is what Judge Elisabeth Armitage's 683-page report confirms.

ABC News
4 hours ago
- ABC News
New Chinese criminal software 'Darcula' tricking consumers into falling for fake websites
Peter Davis was unwinding with friends and red wine on a Friday evening in October last year when everyone got hungry. "We soon started to think about pizza," he said. The 55-year-old looked up his favourite pizza joint — Crust Pizza — via Google and clicked on the first result, which happened to be a sponsored result. He logged into his Crust account, and the site showed him he had earned a free pizza for his loyalty. Mr Davis ordered two pizzas for about $25. It took so long that he thought the transaction would time out, and he would have to do it all over again. "At that moment, my ANZ bank app sprang to life and notified me of a transaction to authorise," he said. He quickly clicked on the app and approved the transaction. But the payment processing wheel kept spinning on the website. Another notification from his ANZ app told him his payment had gone through. Except it was a payment of $570.93, and it had gone to a business called Soax Ltd London. The ANZ app gave him the option to dispute the transaction, but a message told him the payment was pending and could not be disputed until it was complete, which he thought was good news. "If it's pending, surely I can contact ANZ staff and they can stop the scam from completing," Mr Davis said. He spent the next few hours ringing any ANZ support number he could find, with little success. "I got through to a human in one instance, and she reiterated that she could do nothing while the transaction was pending, but gave me another emergency number," he said. "This other number did not answer, did not have a message bank, and just rang out when called." Mr Davis said he had to give up eventually and go to bed. On Sunday, the $570.93 transaction went through. He immediately raised the dispute in the ANZ app and explained he had been scammed via a Crust Pizza website. His theory at the time was that Crust Pizza had been hacked. The ANZ disputes team replied to Mr Davis a few days later and said that, because the transaction was authenticated using 'Verified by Visa' and approved with the ANZ Plus app, the bank could not "classify the above transaction as fraudulent" and was "unable to return the money". "Because I had authorised the transaction, that was the end of it," Mr Davis said. But he wouldn't let it go. He found Visa's merchant guidelines document that listed the accepted grounds and circumstances for a charge-back. "While it did seem my grounds were somehow not sufficient for a charge-back, in another respect, they were very sufficient," he said. He figured out that if he had disputed the charge based on 'payment made, but goods not received', he could get his money back. So, he opened a new dispute with ANZ. ANZ called him, he said, to warn him about changing his story. "At the time of the transaction, I genuinely thought I paid for pizzas that would be delivered. Later, I learned [it was a scam], but it was all still theory at [that] stage, so my new dispute was based on what I knew at the time of the transaction," he said. The bank agreed to process the dispute with Visa. But he needed to show evidence he had contacted the merchant for a refund. "The problem here is that there was no merchant, only scammers," he said. He tried to find the scam website again, but it had disappeared. Instead, the URL sent people to a YouTube video of Rick Astley singing Never Going To Give You Up. His bank account showed he had paid the almost $571 to a company called Soax Ltd London, which was a real company providing software services in the United Kingdom. The company had a website with an email address on it. A few days later, a response dropped into his inbox that said the company had found the account associated with the pizza payment, and it was going to refund Mr Davis the full amount. ANZ said it would not comment on the case. Mr Davis said he was left with lingering questions about the responsibility of Google when it came to fake website scams. They took money from a scammer to list a fake website at the top position in their search results. He also sent a complaint to Google's support team about the scam site being the first search result he was offered, but only received back a message that said: Google "has received information that your credit card details may have been compromised and you should remove this card from your Google wallet". A spokesperson from Google wrote in a statement that the company investigated the domain and could not find ads associated with it. They said on average, 90 per cent of ads on Google results were from verified advertisers, and the company reviewed ads for violations using artificial intelligence and human reviewers. The Soax company in the UK had been used by the scammers to hide their IP address and location, which allowed them to evade detection. It would have also helped the scammers harvest data from the legitimate Crust Pizza websites to make their fake site look authentic. It is a scam technique that has become easier for criminals to pull off thanks to Chinese software provider 'Darcula V3', a sophisticated subscription service that uses the software Magic Cat to duplicate legitimate websites. Brett Winterford, head of global threat intelligence at data security company Okta, said Darcula was an example of new and sophisticated 'phishing-as-a-service'. "[It's] marketed in cybercrime forums that provide attackers with rented access to phishing infrastructure required to launch phishing campaigns," he said. Phishing is when a scammer uses fake websites, texts, or emails to persuade someone to give up personal information. It's also called "social engineering" and is one of the top five scams targeting Australians. Mr Winterford said Darcula was one of several phishing-as-a-service kits that used generative artificial intelligence to mimic real websites. "Darcula [offers] a DIY phishing kit that can clone any brand's website," he said. Mr Winterford said the latest phishing software was challenging to defend against. "Organisations cannot rely exclusively on email content filtering or the services of telecommunications providers to block phishing lures," he said. "Darcula lures are sent to targets using messaging services like Rich Communication Service (RCS) and iMessage, rather than email or SMS." Using RCS and iMessage allows scammers to bypass SMS firewalls and spam filters and reach more potential victims. The only reliable defence against these services is password-less, phishing-resistant authentication. Mr Winterbone said passkey protection was a reliable way people could protect themselves against fake websites because passkeys only worked with the original domain and would not work with a fake domain. "If I registered my key with myGov, for example, my passkey will only work for and not for any other domain," he said. "Every Australian should demand that their online service providers introduce passkeys as an optional method of authentication, with a long-term plan to phase out passwords altogether."