A former senior leader at the Countess of Chester hospital has been arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice as part of an ongoing investigation into baby deaths at the facility. The arrest took place on Wednesday, April 22, and is linked to Operation Duet, the Cheshire police inquiry examining allegations of corporate and gross negligence manslaughter involving hospital management.

Cheshire Constabulary confirmed that the individual arrested was one of three former hospital bosses apprehended in June last year on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. The force did not disclose the suspect’s age or gender. Following the arrest, the person was released on bail pending further inquiries, and police said that searches conducted at the property have now been completed.

Operation Duet began in 2023 in the wake of the first trial of Lucy Letby, a former neonatal nurse at the hospital. Letby, 36, is serving a whole-life sentence after being convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to kill seven others between 2015 and 2016. The investigation initially targeted corporate manslaughter to evaluate whether senior hospital staff were criminally liable for their handling of an increased number of deaths in the neonatal unit. In March 2025, the scope of the criminal inquiry expanded to include gross negligence manslaughter, focusing on individual actions.

A public inquiry examining hospital leadership’s role was scheduled to publish its findings in early 2026 but has since indicated that the report’s release date remains uncertain as work continues.

Letby has twice failed to overturn her convictions at the Court of Appeal and is currently seeking review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which assesses potential miscarriages of justice. The CCRC has been examining new evidence since February 2023. Meanwhile, prosecutors announced in January that Letby would not face additional charges despite receiving a new evidence file compiled by Cheshire Constabulary. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had considered 11 possible offenses, including two allegations of murder and two of attempted murder relating to two infants who died, as well as seven counts of attempted murder concerning babies who survived. Some of the new charges involved alleged offenses at both the Countess of Chester and Liverpool Women’s Hospital. However, the CPS ultimately ruled that the evidence was insufficient to proceed with further prosecutions.

The arrests of the former hospital bosses have led to strict court-imposed restrictions on publication of any material that could influence potential juries, reflecting the seriousness of the ongoing investigations and any forthcoming trials. Both the corporate manslaughter and gross negligence investigations remain active with no defined timeline for completion.