Police have launched a corporate manslaughter investigation into the Countess of Chester hospital after the neonatal nurse Lucy Letby’s convictions for the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others. Cheshire constabulary said the investigation would examine senior leadership and decision-making to determine if there was criminality at the time of the charges Letby faced. Letby, 33, is serving a whole-life order after being convicted of the babies’ murders and attempted murders at the hospital’s neonatal unit in 2015 and 2016. Announcing the corporate manslaughter investigation, Det Supt Simon Blackwell said: “Following the lengthy trial, subsequent conviction of Lucy Letby, and an assessment by senior investigative officers, I can confirm that Cheshire constabulary is carrying out an investigation into corporate manslaughter at the Countess of Chester hospital. “The investigation will focus on the indictment period of the charges for Lucy Letby, from June 2015 to June 2016, and consider areas, including senior leadership and decision-making, to determine whether any criminality has taken place. “At this stage we are not investigating any individuals in relation to gross negligence manslaughter. The investigation is in the very early stages and we are unable to go into any further details or answer specific questions at this time. “We recognise that this investigation will have a significant impact on a number of different stakeholders, including the families in this case, and we are continuing to work alongside and support them during this process.” Corporate manslaughter is defined by the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. An organisation can be found guilty of the offence if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a person’s death, and amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed by the organisation to that person. The offence applies only to certain organisations, as defined by the act. They include private bodies, such as limited companies and partnerships. Public bodies such as local authorities and NHS trusts and specified government departments and police forces can also be held liable. Individuals cannot be prosecuted for the offence, whether as an accessory or otherwise. If found guilty of corporate manslaughter or corporate homicide, an organisation is liable to a fine. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) previously said it wanted to pursue a retrial on one of Letby’s outstanding charges: that she attempted to murder a baby girl, known as Child K, in February 2016. A provisional trial date of 10 June 2024 at the same court has been fixed. The jury of seven women and four men in Letby’s 10-month trial could not reach verdicts on claims she attempted to murder three baby girls, Child H, Child J and Child K. Verdicts were also not reached on two counts of attempted murder against Child N, a baby boy, and an allegation she tried to murder another baby boy, Child Q. Letby was found guilty of one count of attempted murder against Child N. Letby, from Hereford, has denied all the offences and formally lodged an appeal against her convictions at the court of appeal last month. A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of the surviving and dead children who were the subject of the allegations. The families of Letby’s victims welcomed the news. Tamlin Bolton from the legal firm Switalskis, which is representing the families of seven babies, said: “This is significant news today. The families we represent have continued to request that senior management at the Countess of Chester hospital be investigated and/or be part of investigations moving forward. “We are reassured that some steps are now being taken to consider the actions of management from a criminal perspective. It will be for the CPS and the police to determine now if the conduct of the senior management at the Countess of Chester hospital fell so far below what could reasonably have been expected of them, that their actions caused or contributed to the deaths of those seven children. “Whist the news is welcomed, this announcement brings with it fresh anguish for the families as they wait for the conclusion of these further criminal investigations.”