The only witness today is Alison Kelly, former director of Nursing at the Countess of Chester Hospital at the time of Lucy Letby’s crimes.

Judith Moritz
Special correspondent, reporting from the inquiry

The hearing room at Liverpool Town Hall is filling up with benches full of lawyers representing all of the core participants at the Thirlwall Inquiry.

This grand room in the 18th century building is normally used as the large ballroom. There are chandeliers overhead, and elaborate filigree décor.

The room is now hushed and the Chair, Lady Justice Thirlwall has just entered.

Image source, Cheshire Police

This is an exceptionally complex case, here are the key elements to it:

• Lucy Letby was convicted in two separate trials of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016
• At the end of her first trial, Letby was sentenced to 14 whole-life terms, she was given a fifteenth whole life order in July following a retrial for the attempted murder of Baby K
• The trial ran fromOctober 2022 to August 2023, and the retrial was ordered after a jury was unable to reach a verdict on one count of attempted murder of a baby girl
• The retrial found her guilty of the attacking a new-born infant during a February 2016 night shift at the Countess of Chester hospital
• Letby deliberately injected babies with air, force fed others milk and poisoned two of the infants with insulin
• Dr Stephen Brearey first raised concerns about Letby inOctober 2015 but said no action was taken and she went on to attack five more babies
• Operation Hummingbird was launched in2017 by Cheshire Police and Letby was first arrested at her home in Chester in July 2018
• Two separate applications from Letby to appeal against her convictions have been denied

A reminder though: the Thirlwall Inquiry is not a criminal inquiry – it cannot determine criminal or civil liability, but can highlight where failings have occurred.

The inquiry is public, but its chair, Lady Justice Thirlwall, has ruled that it cannot be livestreamed.

We have a reporter in the room at Liverpool Town Hall, BBC special correspondent Judith Moritz, who will be providing updates to this page throughout.

So stick with us for the latest updates and analysis today.

You can also catch up on what the inquiry has heard so far by listening to Lucy Letby: The Public Inquiry on BBC Sounds.

After Letby's convictions, the government set up an independent public inquiry, the Thirlwall Inquiry, which began hearing evidence in September and is named for its chair Lady Justice Thirlwall.

The inquiry's key stated objectives are to “seek answers for the victims’ families and ensure lessons are learned”. But it will also examine the wider circumstances that led to the deaths of the babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

It is not a criminal inquiry – it cannot determine criminal or civil liability, but can highlight where failings have occurred.

Image source, EPA

Hello and welcome.

We're continuing our live coverage of the public inquiry that follows the conviction of former nurse Lucy Letby for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven others.

Today we'll hear from Letby's former manager, Alison Kelly, who was director of nursing at the Countess of Chester Hospital. She has not spoken publicly about the events before.

Letby’s trial raised questions about the way managers at the hospital handled concerns that consultants were raising about the nurse, as well the NHS’s handling of the case.

It’ll be for the public inquiry, chaired by Lady Justice Thirlwall to examine that, and whether there are questions for the wider NHS.