New arrest in Lucy Letby probe: Cops question ex-boss on suspicion of perverting course of justice at hospital where nurse murdered babies

A man has been arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice in connection with an investigation of gross negligence manslaughter at the hospital where Lucy Letby killed the babies, Cheshire Police announced today.

The force said in a statement on Wednesday that officers executed a search warrant and searched the home of an unnamed person. They refused to disclose their age and gender.

It came after three senior managers working at the Countess of Chester Hospital at the time of the neonatal nurse’s murder spree were interviewed by detectives in June 2025.

Police confirmed the man arrested today was one of three people arrested last year. They were released on bail pending further investigation.

A spokesman for Cheshire Constabulary said today: ‘Operation Duet is an ongoing investigation into corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

‘One person was arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. They were later released on bail pending further investigation.

‘Searches of the property have now ended.’

The arrest forms part of Cheshire Constabulary’s ongoing investigation into corporate manslaughter at the NHS Trust, where Letby killed seven premature babies and harmed a further seven between June 2015 and June 2016.

In March last year Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes confirmed the corporate manslaughter investigation, codenamed Operation Duet, had been expanded to include ‘grossly negligent action or inaction by individuals’.

He said ‘those identified as suspects have been notified’ but refused to confirm any names.

Letby, 35, is serving 15 life sentences after being convicted of murdering seven babies in the hospital’s neonatal unit and attempting to kill seven babies by making two attempts on one of his victims.

He twice appealed against convictions that were rejected by the Court of Appeal.

Detective Inspector Paul Hughes, who led Operation Hummingbird, Cheshire Police’s investigation into Lucy Letby and the Countess of Chester Hospital

The babies’ lives could have been saved if hospital bosses had acted sooner to sack Letby, according to an independent report leaked to the Mail’s Trial+ podcast.

The report prepared by the Countess after Letby’s first arrest in July 2018 revealed that managers were ‘inexperienced’ and missed 14 opportunities to suspend the nurse because they ‘overlooked’ the possibility that the nurse was responsible.

Instead of alerting the police, a series of ineffective external investigations were launched that failed to get to the bottom of why the babies suddenly collapsed and died, the document said.

The report, prepared by independent health consultancy Facere Melius and blocked from publication, concluded that managers also ‘excluded’ and ‘bullied’ doctors as they continued to raise concerns and demand the police be called.

Although the report does not specifically state which babies may have survived, it appears that as of February 2016, at least two senior managers at the hospital knew about the connection between Letby and infant deaths.

She attempted to kill four children, referred to at her trial as Babies K, L, M and N, and killed two of her triplet brothers, Babies O and P, before being removed from front-line nursing duty in July of the same year.

‘Earlier action will potentially reduce the number of infant deaths,’ the report said.

‘Had different decisions been made, the spike in infant deaths at home and abroad would have receded more quickly and lives could have potentially been saved.’

At the public inquiry into Letby’s crimes, the hospital’s senior management faced serious criticism over how they handled the spike in deaths.

In closing arguments, attorneys for the babies’ families accused administrators of covering up to protect the hospital’s reputation, lying to families and bullying counselors who tried to raise the alarm.

Peter Skelton KC, representing seven of Letby’s victims, said they displayed ‘a form of individual and corporate self-preservation that should have no place in the NHS’.

Lucy Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more after a trial at Manchester Crown Court.

The Women’s and Children’s building, where the neonatal unit where Letby committed his crimes is located

Kate Blackwell KC, one of the senior managers, said in her closing speech that they now accepted that they should have called the police sooner.

But the barrister insisted it was never put to them in “unambiguous” terms before June 2016, when Letby attacked and killed Babies O and P and was eventually moved from frontline nursing to an administrative role.

Ms Blackwell said managers acknowledged failing to comply with safeguarding policies, making mistakes in communicating with babies’ parents and a deterioration in their relationships with paediatricians who needed to be better supported.

But they insisted all decisions were made ‘in good faith’ and ‘vociferously rejected’ claims they had deliberately and knowingly ‘harbored’ a murderer or put the hospital’s reputation above the safety of the babies in their care.

‘Senior managers have unequivocally rejected the suggestion that either their own or the Foundation’s reputation was a priority over security,’ he added.

Under the law, a person can be found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence if they negligently breach the duty of care owed to the deceased and such a breach was ‘reasonably foreseeable’ to give rise to a ‘serious and obvious risk of death’.

The circumstances of the breach must also be ‘genuinely exceptionally bad and reprehensible’ to constitute gross negligence.

Letby, from Hereford, has always maintained his innocence and in April 2025 his new defense team presented evidence from a panel of international experts to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the body that reviews miscarriages of justice, in a bid to overturn his convictions.

Experts claim that no murder was committed and instead suggest that the babies died or fainted from natural causes or inadequate care.

In January 2026, the Crown Prosecution Service announced it would not bring further charges against Letby.

Cheshire Constabulary had submitted evidence files to assess the alleged murder and attempted murder of the two deceased and seven surviving babies.

But prosecutors concluded that the evidentiary test was not met in either case.