Lady Justice Thirlwall tells inquiry Lucy Letby comment has 'caused distress to victims' parents'

ITV Granada Reports correspondent Mel Barham reports from the first full day of the inquiry.

A “huge outpouring of comment” over the convictions of child serial killer nurse Lucy Letby has caused “enormous additional distress” to the parents of her victims, a public inquiry has heard.

On Tuesday, the hearings of the Thirlwall Inquiry started into how Letby was able to attack babies on the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neo-natal unit in 2015 and 2016 and how its bosses handled concerns.

Opening the proceedings at Liverpool Town Hall, inquiry chairwoman Lady Justice Thirlwall said the probe bears her surname so that the parents do not repeatedly see the name of the person convicted of harming their babies.

Letby, 34, 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.

She protested to the court “I’m innocent” as she was led from the dock when she was sentenced in July to her 15th whole-life order after a jury convicted her at retrial of the attempted murder of a baby girl.

In May, she lost her Court of Appeal bid to challenge her convictions from the first trial which took place between October 2022 and August 2023.

Referring to that judgment, Lady Justice Thirlwall said: “That judgment marked a watershed. At last the parents had finality, or so it seemed. But it was not to be.

“In the months that followed… there has been a huge outpouring of comment from a variety of quarters on the validity of the convictions.

“As far as I am aware it has come entirely from people who were not at the trial. Parts of the evidence has been selected and there has been criticism of the defence at the trial.

“All of this noise has caused enormous additional distress to the parents who have already suffered far too much.

“It is not for me to set about reviewing the convictions. The Court of Appeal has done that with a very clear result.”

She said the babies who died or were injured would be at the “heart of the inquiry”.

The inquiry will cover three broad areas.

Firstly, the experiences of the parents of the babies who featured on the criminal indictment that Letby faced.

Secondly, the conduct of those working at the Countess of Chester and how Letby was able repeatedly to kill and harm babies.

Despite mounting concerns raised to bosses by some consultants, she was not removed from the unit until after the deaths of two triplet boys and the suspected collapse of another baby boy on three successive days in June 2016 and police were not called in until the following year.

Thirdly, a focus on the wider NHS in examining relationships between the various groups of professionals, the culture within hospitals and how these affect the safety of newborns in neonatal units.

The first week of the inquiry will hear opening statements from the counsel to the inquiry, along with legal representatives from core participants including the families of Letby’s victims.

Lady Justice Thirlwall said it was planned that the hearings in Liverpool would finish in early 2025 and she expected her findings to be 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.