Ex-hospital bosses call for inquiry to be suspended

Lucy Letby killed babies while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital

Lawyers for former bosses of the hospital where killer nurse Lucy Letby murdered babies have asked for the public inquiry into the events surrounding her crimes to be suspended.

Inquiry chair Lady Justice Thirlwall said she had received the request from counsel for the management team weeks after a panel of international medical experts blamed the deaths on bad medical care and natural causes.

She said she had previously had similar pleas from Letby's legal team and Conservative MP David Davis, who has called for a retrial.

Submissions on the topic have been heard at Liverpool Town Hall, along with the closing statements.

Letby, 35, originally from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders for murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others.

Lady Justice Thirlwall said that lawyers for the former hospital executives - chief executive Tony Chambers, medical director Ian Harvey, director of nursing Alison Kelly and HR director Sue Hodkinson - had also written to the secretary of state for health to seek a suspension of the inquiry.

• Why Letby case is under more scrutiny than ever

The findings of a panel of 14 international experts in neonatology and paediatrics were revealed by Letby's legal team last month.

Chairman of the panel Dr Shoo Lee said the experts had pored over trial transcripts and medical records and they "did not find any murders".

Those findings have been passed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice.

Letby's legal team hopes the commission will refer her case back to the Court of Appeal.

A letter written by Letby's solicitors to Lady Justice Thirlwall, seen by PA news agency, said a report based on the inquiry's findings would be of "little value" if the convictions were overturned.

It added: "It is likely that the CCRC will not take long to consider the application before referring it back to the Court of Appeal.

"It is now clear there is overwhelming and compelling evidence that Lucy Letby's convictions are unsafe.

"For the inquiry to be effective and the taxpayers' money not to be wasted, we urge that the inquiry be suspended and to wait for the outcome of the review to take place."

The CCRC previously indicated that a review of the application would take time due to the complexity of the case.

'Recommendations desperately needed'

A crowd of about 50 people gathered outside Liverpool Town Hall before the inquiry resumed for closing submissions, holding signs claiming Letby was innocent.

Andrew Kennedy KC, in his closing submission on behalf of the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, dismissed calls for a suspension.

He said: "Letby's convictions stand. They have been tested in two unsuccessful appeals.

"A postponement, which would necessarily be of indeterminate length, is not warranted and it would serve to delay the implementations of recommendations which unhappily the evidence in this inquiry have demonstrated are desperately needed."

Protesters outside the public hearing in Liverpool call for Letby to be freed

In his closing speech, Neil Sheldon KC, who represents the Department of Health and Social Care, said lessons from previous cases where health professionals had harmed babies had not been learnt.

In 1991 a nurse, Beverly Allitt, murdered four children at a hospital in Lincolnshire and in 2015 another nurse, Victorino Chua, was jailed for murdering two patients at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport.

Mr Sheldon said "There has been a long standing failure to learn the lesson of past inquiries and investigations and to implement those lessons.

"Recommendation have been made but insufficient action has been taken.

"The tragic events at the Countess of Chester Hospital should not have been allowed to happen in the first place."

Lady Justice Thirlwall is due to publish her final report this autumn.