LONDON - A British nurse has denied charges of murdering eight babies and trying to kill 10 more while working on a hospital's neonatal ward.

Lucy Letby, 31, appeared for a brief hearing at Manchester Crown Court by video link from prison Monday.

She answered "not guilty" to eight charges of murder and 10 charges of attempted murder between June 2015 and June 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital, south of Liverpool in northwest England.

Police began investigating baby deaths at the hospital in 2017, and arrested and charged Letby last year.

A judge remanded the former nurse in custody and said a trial lasting up to six months will be held from October 2022.