People questioning Letby verdict ‘should be ashamed’ for ‘recklessly promoting conspiracy theories,’ inquiry hears
12 September 2024, 12:51
People questioning the guilt of Lucy Letby “should be ashamed of themselves” for “recklessly promoting conspiracy theories”, an inquiry heard.
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Letby was convicted last year of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others, as well as the attempted murder of a seventh baby at retrial in July.
She is serving 15 whole life terms in jail.
On the third day of the Thirlwall Inquiry, set up to examine how the 34-year-old nurse was able to carry out her crimes in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016, Richard Baker KC said it was “naive” to think that someone who chooses to work in a caring profession cannot be a murderer.
He said: “Lucy Letby was not convicted on the basis of questionable statistics but because the factual and expert medical evidence demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that she had harmed children at the hospital.”
He pointed out that Harold Shipman had been regarded as a “diligent and caring doctor” until the truth was known, and said that many “superficially or apparently normal individuals had turned out to be monsters”.
The inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall also heard that basic failures by the hospital where killer nurse Letby worked had "fatal consequences" for babies.
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Peter Skelton KC, representing seven of the families, said: "The first failure was to conduct swift, careful and methodical investigations into why each of the deaths occurred and whether there were connections between the deaths."
He added: "That was a major and catastrophic failure."
Mr Skelton said it meant vital information was overlooked, with "fatal consequences" for other children.
He said the cluster of deaths and collapses should have been escalated to senior management within the hospital trust immediately, so they could have overseen investigations.
Mr Skelton said: "From the outset, and without prejudice and without pre-judgment, it should have been in the minds of those conducting and overseeing the investigations that the cluster of unexpected and unexplained deaths might have been caused by the criminal acts of a member of hospital staff."
The barrister said a report into Beverley Allitt, a nurse who killed children at Grantham Hospital, Lincolnshire, in 1991, sought to ensure that healthcare staff were prepared to keep their minds open to the possibility of criminal conduct.
As well as the Allitt case, Mr Skelton said that in May 2015, just before Letby's crimes began, nurse Victorino Chua was sentenced for murdering patients at Stepping Hill Hospital.
He said: "It is difficult to understand why events at Stepping Hill did not at the very least alert those at the Countess of Chester from the start that the cluster of unexpected deaths were the result of potential criminality and that active steps were required to rule out that possibility."
Mr Skelton said the police and coroner should have been informed at the outset, which could have had a "profound effect" on the course of events.
He told the inquiry the fifth failure was not to inform the families that the deaths were being investigated with a view to finding out why they occurred.
Mr Skelton said: "You will hear from some of the parents over the next few weeks about how they were kept in the dark about the collapses of the babies and the concerns and investigations that were being undertaken into their babies' deaths."
He said the failings were made "all the more indefensible" by the increase in numbers of neonatal deaths.
Letby, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016.
The inquiry, chaired by Lady Justice Thirlwall, is expected to sit until early 2025, with findings published by late autumn of that year.
A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of the surviving and dead children involved in the case.
