Consultant says hospital should have called police about Lucy Letby a year earlier

Concerns raised by consultants to hospital bosses about Lucy Letby before her baby killing spree ended should have "triggered" a call to the police, a public inquiry has heard.

Dr Elizabeth Newby told the Thirlwall Inquiry into the events at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit that fellow senior colleagues approached her about Letby after the sudden and unexpected death of a baby girl, Child I, in October 2015.

Letby murdered Child I at the fourth attempt by injecting her with air.

Consultant Dr Newby was called out to one of the earlier collapses of Child I and said she was asked if Letby had been present.

She said: "The conversation was then around the fact that she was always on duty when these events had happened and there were also some counter-arguments that we were a very small unit with a very small pool of nursing staff and so it was not inconceivable that the same poor person might be on duty for a number of events.”

Dr Newby said she "found it hard to comprehend that a healthcare professional could be deliberately harming babies".

But she added: "As 2015 went on, and into 2016, the thought that something awful could be happening solidified in people’s minds.

"It was completely out of normality that we should have so many deaths on the unit.

"It was very difficult. There was an air of disbelief about it. The only thing that we could say at the time was that she happened to be on all the shifts.

"No-one had ever seen anything, heard anything. There was lots of counter arguments that she was a very competent nurse, observed good practice etc."

Dr Newby told the inquiry though that "everything needed to be considered" and she backed neonatal clinical lead, Dr Stephen Brearey, and children’s services clinical lead, Dr Ravi Jayaram in raising the concerns with hospital executives.

Counsel to the inquiry, Nicholas de la Poer KC, asked: "Was there any discussion between yourselves about whether the police should be contacted if there were discussions about the need to raise it with the senior management?"

Dr Newby said: "No, I suppose we felt that we needed to discuss the concerns and then they would help and guide us with what to do next."

She said she did not know the exact date the meeting took place, although the inquiry has heard Dr Brearey met with medical director Ian Harvey and director of nursing Alison Kelly on 11 May, 2016.

In a statement to the inquiry, she said: "That should have triggered a request for a police investigation by the hospital as this should have been taken very seriously".

Mr de la Poer said: "Was it your expectation that one thing would lead to another?"

"Yes," said Dr Newby.

In June 2016, Letby attempted to murder a baby boy and went on to murder two triplet boys before she was moved out of the unit the following month to clerical duties.

Cheshire Police were not called in by the hospital until May 2017 and Letby continued working at the hospital until her arrest in July 2018.

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, between June 2015 and June 2016.

The inquiry is expected to sit at Liverpool Town Hall until early next year, with findings published by late autumn 2025.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To know...