A “huge outpouring of comment” over the safety of the convictions against nurse Lucy Letby for killing seven babies has caused “enormous additional distress” to the parents of the infants, a judge told the opening day of the public inquiry into the case.
On Tuesday, the hearings of the Thirlwall Inquiry began into how Letby, now 34, was able to repeatedly attack babies on the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neo-natal unit in 2015 and 2016 and how its bosses handled concerns about her.
Inquiry Will Not Widen Terms of Reference
However, Lady Justice Thirlwall made clear that her role in leading the inquiry is not to question the verdict of the criminal court or to seek alternative explanations as to how the premature babies might have died.A public inquiry was set up last September after Letby, from Hertford, was found guilty of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six others at the hospital.
The inquiry was adjourned until after Letby’s retrial on a further charge on which the original jury had been unable to reach a verdict. That trial concluded in July and resulted in her being found guilty of the attempted murder of another baby.
In May, four judges refused Letby leave to appeal the first verdicts, while an application to appeal the later verdict is reportedly pending.
Opening the proceedings at Liverpool Town Hall, Thirlwall said the probe bears her surname so that the parents do not repeatedly see the name of the person convicted of harming their babies.
Letby is serving 15 whole-life orders following her convictions at Manchester Crown Court, with the initial trial taking place between October 2022 and August 2023.
The nurse told the court, “I’m innocent” as she was led from the dock after being sentenced in July to her 15th whole-life order following the retrial which saw her convicted of the attempted murder of a baby girl.
Referring to the retrial verdict, Thirlwall said: “That judgment marked a watershed. At last the parents had finality, or so it seemed. But it was not to be.
“In the months that followed, there has been a huge outpouring of comment from a variety of quarters on the validity of the convictions.”
‘Criticism of the Defence’
The judge continued: “As far as I am aware it has come entirely from people who were not at the trial. Parts of the evidence has been selected and there has been criticism of the defence at the trial.“All of this noise has caused enormous additional distress to the parents who have already suffered far too much.”
Making clear she would not be addressing the concerns of the experts who have signed pubic letters calling for a review of the evidence, the judge said: “It is not for me to set about reviewing the convictions. The Court of Appeal has done that with a very clear result.”
She said the babies who died or were injured would be at the “heart of the inquiry,” which will cover three areas.
Firstly, the experiences of the parents of the babies who featured on the criminal indictment that Letby faced.
Secondly, the conduct of those working at the Countess of Chester and how Letby was able repeatedly to kill and harm babies, according to the verdict of the court.
Despite concerns raised to bosses by some consultants, she was not removed from the unit until after the deaths of two triplet boys and the suspected collapse of another baby boy on three successive days in June 2016 and police were not called in until the following year.
Thirdly, a focus on the wider NHS in examining relationships between the various groups of professionals, the culture within hospitals, and how these affect the safety of newborns in neonatal units.
The first week of the inquiry will hear opening statements from the counsel to the inquiry, along with legal representatives from core participants, including the families of the babies.
The hearings should finish by early 2025 with the judge’s findings expected to be published by the autumn.
Growing Call to Review Evidence
Last month, a group of 19 health care professionals wrote to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to express concern over what they believe are the “unsafe” convictions against Letby, which they said have left them “terrified” that they could also be accused of killing patients in the event of a “spike” in deaths on their wards.The open letter was published on the website Science on Trial, which examines the evidence against both Letby and another British nurse, Ben Geen, 44, who is serving life for the murder of two of his patients and grievous bodily harm against 15 others.
Channel 5 recently aired a documentary entitled “Did She Really Do It?” featuring experts who believe Letby may have been scapegoated for more systemic failings, with a number of mainstream UK newspapers running articles questioning the strength of the case against her, which relied heavily on the statistical probability of her presence on shift when the babies died.
Thirlwall ruled out livestreaming the inquiry owing to concerns about the breaching of restriction orders on the identification of victims, although the hearing is open to both the press and the public.
