Neonatal manager thought Lucy Letby was the 'creme de la creme' of nurses

• Granada Reports correspondent Mel Barham was at the public inquiry in Liverpool.

A nursing boss has told a public inquiry she never had any evidence of wrongdoing by “creme de la creme” nurse Lucy Letby.

The Thirlwall Inquiry into the events surrounding the crimes of Letby has heard that senior consultant Dr John Gibbs was “dithering” about reporting concerns because he was “influenced” by her line manager, Eirian Powell, saying she could not have done anything wrong.

On Thursday, the inquiry was told former neonatal ward manager Ms Powell said she had “no qualms” about employing Letby in January 2012 after she finished her training at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

The inquiry heard she told police: “I wanted her on the unit, I really did. When students come through the system you are almost able to hand-pick the creme de la creme and she was one of those.”

Ms Powell met Dr Stephen Brearey following the unexpected deaths of three babies in June 2015 and it was noted that Letby had been a “commonality” in an all three but Ms Powell told the inquiry there was “no evidence of any wrongdoing”.

Following the death of another infant in October 2015 Ms Powell drew up a table of the babies who had died in that period and all the nursing staff on duty during those shifts.

Revisions of the table followed including an additional column with the names of doctors and also a fresh table with Letby’s name highlighted in red, the inquiry heard.

Counsel to the inquiry Rachel Langdale asked Ms Powell: “Was there a time when you were doing that, you thought ‘actually the police should be doing this, not me’.”

Ms Powell replied: “In hindsight, yes I did.”

She added: “Nothing changed as far as the evidence was concerned. Nobody saw anything.

“When we got busy she did the overtime so she was there more often.”

Ms Langdale said: “When did you start to worry that her name kept coming up, if you did start to worry about that?”

Ms Powell said: “The question was always asked of me. Nothing changed from Dr Brearey saying he had concerns but he wouldn’t define them and nothing changed from each time, ‘had anyone seen anything?’ or ‘there was no evidence there’.”

Ms Langdale said: “Unexplained dying and collapsing children, that was the evidence, wasn’t it?

“Yes,” said Ms Powell.

Ms Langdale said: “So looking around who was in the pool and who might have an influence on that.”

“Yes,” said Ms Powell.

Ms Langdale went on: “At that point shouldn’t the police have been called in to investigate it?”

Ms Powell replied: “Yes.”

At the beginning of her evidence the inquiry heard Ms Powell wanted to express her “sincere condolences” to all the parents and families for the loss of their children and harm suffered.

Asked by Ms Langdale if she wanted to add anything, Ms Powell said: “I don’t think anything I could say would alleviate the pain that they continue to endure throughout this process and beyond.”

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 until early 2025, with findings published by late autumn of that year.

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