Former directors call for Letby inquiry to be paused

Lawyers acting for four former executive directors at the Countess of Chester Hospital have called for the Thirlwall inquiry to be paused while the criminal charges against Lucy Letby are reviewed.

Acting for the former hospital leaders - chief executive Tony Chambers, medical director Ian Harvey, director of nursing Alison Kelly and HR director Sue Hodkinson - Kate Blackwell KC asked inquiry chair Lady Thirlwall to consider halting all or part of the proceedings until the Criminal Case Review Commission had made a decision about allowing another appeal or retrial.

She stated there was a risk the real causes of the infants’ deaths could be missed. 

Letby was convicted in 2023 of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six more. She was later found guilty of another attempted murder charge at a second trial. The offences happened in 2015 and 2016. The Court of Appeal upheld her convictions last year.

But a new legal team for Letby has referred her convictions to the CCRC, raising concerns about the disclosure of evidence and citing new evidence from senior clinical experts that contradicts what the juries heard.

However, families of the jailed nurse’s victims said the senior managers were attempting to evade responsibility for their “many failures”.

“The applications to stop the inquiry are, on Letby’s part, an attempt to control the narrative, and on the part of the executives to avoid criticism,” said Richard Baker KC, representing the parents of 12 of the babies.

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Source: HSJ, 18 March 2025