Letby emailed colleagues 'asking for support'

Lucy Letby discussed the death of a baby in a "gossipy way", the inquiry has heard

Lucy Letby emailed her colleagues at the Countess of Chester Hospital claiming she had been "exonerated" and asking them to be "sensitive and supportive".

The Thirlwall Inquiry into Letby's crimes heard the former nurse wrote the email in January 2017, six months after she had been removed from frontline clinical duties.

She claimed that "a thorough investigation" had established that "all allegations were unfounded and untrue” and that she had "received a full apology" from the hospital trust.

Letby had been moved into an administrative role after a group of consultant paediatricians persistently raised concerns about the deaths and collapses of babies on the neonatal ward.

'Distressing'

Six months later the consultants were told to apologise to Letby after two independent reviews reported there was no evidence of deliberate harm.

A grievance procedure against her removal from the ward had also been upheld.

The email said: "As you can imagine this whole episode has been distressing for me and my family.

"I will begin my return to the unit in the coming weeks. I will need colleagues to be sensitive and supportive at this time."

Letby never returned to the unit, which the inquiry previously heard was down to the "persistence" of consultants who suspected her of being a murderer.

The inquiry also heard from a nurse who recalled Letby telling her about the death of a child in an "excited" and "gossipy" way.

Melanie Taylor said she could not remember which baby's death Letby was referring to, but recalled how she spoke about it.

She said: "It was almost in a way that she was excited to tell me, almost in a gossipy manner."

The inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall is examining how the killer nurse was able to murder and attack babies at the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016.

Lady Justice Thirlwall is chairing the inquiry, which is being held at Liverpool Town Hall

Rachel Langdale KC, counsel to the inquiry, asked Ms Taylor if the way Letby spoke about the baby's death struck her as unusual or disrespectful.

Ms Taylor said: "Yes, it did. There were parts of [Letby's] personality that were a little strange to me, so I took that as a personality difference between me and her."

The inquiry also heard about text messages Letby had written about the death of a baby who was later found to be one of her victims.

Ms Taylor said the message showed a "lack of compassion".

In the messages, Letby said she wanted to get back to the nursery where the boy died to get over the death.

Her colleague replied Letby needed to "let it go or it'll eat you up".

Letby said: "I need to go back and have a sick baby [to take care of], otherwise the image of the one you've lost never leaves you."

Ms Taylor told the inquiry she had never heard of going back to the unit where a death occurred as a way of dealing with or getting over trauma.

When asked what she thought about Letby wanting to go back to the nursery where the baby had died, Ms Taylor said it was "highly inappropriate", adding: "The text messages I've seen show a lack of compassion."

Ms Taylor told the inquiry she did not have any suspicions at the time that Letby could be harming babies.

"That's an unthinkable thing in a way.

"Nursing is a profession where you put your trust in each other, and I mean this is not an event that happens in anybody's lifetime."

Another nurse told the inquiry Letby had shouted at her for suggesting she should take a break from working on the intensive care unit after a baby died.

Nurse Kathryn Percival Calderbank said she had made the suggestion for Letby to spend time on the special care unit - where babies were not as poorly - so she could do nice things like feed and cuddle babies.

"She was really angry with me. She felt it was boring looking after special care babies," she said.

Letby, 34, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after being convicted 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 is expected to sit until early next year, with findings published by late autumn 2025.

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