Police have launched a corporate manslaughter investigation at the Chester hospital that employed Lucy Letby, a former nurse recently convicted of murdering seven babies in the hospital’s neonatal unit in 2015 and 2016.
Corporate manslaughter charges can be brought against organisations that have been grossly negligent, resulting in death. They can be difficult to prove – particularly if an organisation is large and complex, like an NHS Trust – and so investigations often don’t result in prosecution. For example, prosecutors said the evidence did not support a corporate manslaughter charge in relation to the 2016 Croydon tram crash which killed seven people.
Investigations are also typically complex, taking many years to complete. A charging decision has still not been made in relation to the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, which claimed 72 lives.
