An investigation by the UK’s healthcare agency NHS has linked the arrest of a nurse to death of three babies under suspicious circumstances at the hospital where she worked. According to The Telegraph, the nurse used to work at Birmingham Children’s Hospital but her identity has not been released. The 28-year-old was arrested on suspicion of administering poison with intent to endanger life. This comes shortly after the conviction of another nurse named Lucy Letby on charges of murdering seven babies.

Though the probe was launched last year, after the baby’s death, the nurse remained under investigation this weekend. She has not yet been taken back by the hospital, and the regulator too has suspended her, which means she cannot work as a nurse elsewhere.

All the families of the children involved in the review in Birmingham have been informed, said The Telegraph.

“In May 2022, a child on the paediatric intensive care unit at Birmingham Children’s Hospital deteriorated suddenly and unexpectedly. Due to the circumstances of the deterioration, the trust acted straight away,” Dr Fiona Reynolds, NHS trust’s chief medical officer, said in a statement.

“A member of staff was suspended from work and subsequently arrested at home. Sadly, the child later died and our thoughts remain with the family,” she added.

According to Metro, the NHS trust passed the findings to the police.

Meanwhile, Lucy Letby was accused of harming 17 babies, some of them just days old, between June 2015 and June 2016.

In the majority of cases she is believed to have injected them with air but prosecutors also accused her of introducing insulin or too much milk.

London:

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has unveiled plans for tough new laws which would mean those convicted of heinous murders will face life behind bars for the rest of their lives, with no chance of being considered for parole or early release.

The 43-year-old British Indian leader said in a statement on Saturday that “life means life” and judges will be required to hand down mandatory whole-life orders to criminals who commit the most horrific types of murder.

The new law will place a legal expectation on judges to hand down whole-life orders, except in extremely limited circumstances.

“I have shared the public’s horror at the cruelty of crimes we have seen recently. People rightly expect that in the most serious cases, there should be a guarantee that life will mean life. They expect honesty in sentencing,” said Sunak.

“By bringing in mandatory whole life orders for the heinous criminals who commit the most horrific types of murder, we will make sure they never walk free,” he said.

It comes in the days after nurse Lucy Letby was handed a whole-life order after being found guilty of killing seven newborn babies under her care at a hospital in northern England.

The UK’s statutory provisions do not allow capital punishment and therefore the toughest sentence to be handed down is a whole-life term. By putting things on a legal footing, Downing Street said judges will have greater confidence to hand out whole-life orders without risk of challenge in the Courts of Appeal. Under the legal shake-up, whole-life orders will also be the default sentence for any sexually motivated murders.

“A whole-life order will now be the expectation for murderers where the killing involves sexual or sadistic conduct. This important law change will ensure that the worst of the worst can now expect to spend the rest of their lives in prison,” said UK Justice Secretary Alex Chalk.

The UK government said it will legislate for the changes announced in due course, as Parliament returns from its summer recess next month.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)