A paediatric nurse appeared in court on Thursday, 12 November, charged with murdering eight babies and attempting to murder on another 10 occasions.
Lucy Letby, 30, was arrested by Cheshire Police earlier this week and was charged on Wednesday night with eight counts of murder and ten of attempted murder.
All of the babies were patients at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit between June 2015 and June 2016. None of the children have been publicly identified.
Ms Letby appeared before magistrates in Warrington, near Manchester, on Thursday morning and was remanded in custody to appear at Chester Crown Court on Friday, 13 November. She is expected to go on trial next year, although it may be delayed until 2022 due to delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
She did not comment on the allegations and was not given the opportunity to offer a plea to the charges.
Ms Letby was used as the face of a £3million appeal to build a new paediatric unit at the hospital in Chester in 2013.
In a statement the Chief Executive of Countess of Chester Hospital, Dr Susan Gilby, said: “We acknowledge the new and significant development in this case, which is of serious concern to the Trust.”