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British healthcare worker charged with killing eight babies

LONDON (Reuters) - A British female healthworker has been charged with the murder of eight babies and trying to murder 10 others at a hospital in northern England, police said on Wednesday.

Lucy Letby, 30, was charged over the deaths and "non-fatal collapses" at the neonatal unit at The Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.

Letby was first arrested in July 2018 was part of an inquiry but was later released.

"The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised Cheshire Police to charge a healthcare professional with murder in connection with an ongoing investigation into a number of baby deaths," the police said in a statement.

Letby, from Hereford, faces eight charges of murder and 10 of attempted murder. She is due to appear before a magistrates' court on Thursday.

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Nick Macfie)