Detectives have arrested a suspect on suspicion of perverting the course of justice in connection with the probe into killer nurse Lucy Letby.
Cheshire Constabulary said a search warrant was carried out at a property on Wednesday, and the individual was arrested and later bailed pending further inquiries. Letby, 35, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others between June 2015 and June 2016. The babies were attacked by various means while Letby worked as a nurse on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital. In a statement issued on Thursday, the police force said: “On Wednesday 22nd April, officers from Cheshire Constabulary executed a search warrant at a property in connection with Operation Duet.
“Operation Duet is the ongoing investigation into corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
“An individual was arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. They have subsequently been bailed pending further enquiries.
“The searches at the property have now concluded.
“Both the corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter elements of the investigation are continuing and there are no set timescales for these.”
Letby was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
An investigation had been launched after an unusual series of deaths and collapses in the hospital’s neonatal unit, three years after she began working there.
In November 2020, Letby was charged with seven counts of murder and 15 counts of attempted murder relating to 17 babies.
She was found guilty in August 2023 on seven counts each of murder and attempted murder, acquitted on two counts of attempted murder, and the jury was unable to reach verdicts on six further counts.
Letby received 14 whole life orders. One of the unresolved attempted murder charges was retried in July 2024, resulting in a 15th whole life order.
