Lucy Letby maintains her innocence, but accepts being struck off the nursing register
Child serial killer Lucy Letby did not oppose a bid to strike her from the nursing register but maintains her innocence in respect of her convictions.
A hearing is being held in London to decide whether the 33-year-old should be stripped of her nursing credentials
Letby was convicted in August of murdering seven babies and trying to murder six others while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit between June 2015 and June 2016.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (MNC) told the hearing Letby faces 14 charges, brought by the council which reflect her criminal convictions.
Christopher Scott, for the NMC said it is "a matter of legal fact" that Letby was convicted of seven counts each of murder and attempted murder at Manchester Crown Court.
The panel was told Letby was asked in a "tick-box exercise" if she accepts the NMC charges.
She ticked "yes" to each of the charges but added: "I do not wish to take part or be present at the hearing. I do not resist the application to strike me off the nursing register.
"I accept the fact of the convictions. However I do not accept that I am guilty of any of the allegations."
"I maintain my innocence in respect of all of the convictions.
"These convictions are now the subject of an appeal."
Mr Scott went on to invite them to find that her fitness to practise as a nurse is impaired.
The NMC’s position is that Letby has put patients at unwarranted risk of harm, brought the profession into disrepute and breached fundamental tenets of the profession, Mr Scott told the panel.
Over the course of his submissions, he referenced Mr Justice Goss’s sentencing remarks – highlighting the judge saying “this was a cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder” that involved “a deep malevolence bordering on sadism” for which Letby showed “no remorse”.
The NMC’s barrister said Letby’s convictions are so serious that they cannot be remediated, that the panel should find her fitness to practise is impaired for public protection and that a failure to do so “would invoke a crisis in public confidence”.
If the panel finds Letby’s fitness to practise is impaired, Mr Scott will ask them to strike her off the nursing register.
Letby was told of the hearing but did not attend and was not represented.
The panel decided to proceed in her absence.
She faces a retrial in June 2024 for one count of attempted murder.
As Lucy Letby becomes the most prolific serial child killer in modern Britain, we take a look at how she managed to slip under the radar for so long, carrying out her attacks unchallenged for a year at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Gamal Fahnbulleh joins Mel Barham and Emma Sweeney for From the North.