Thirwall Inquiry: Chairwoman of grievance panel thought Lucy Letby was victim of 'witch-hunt'

The chairwoman of a grievance panel which examined a complaint by Lucy Letby said she had initially thought accusations against the nurse were a "witch-hunt".

Annette Weartherley said she had heard a rumour the convicted killer had "rebuffed" the physical advances of one of the doctors who accused her of harming babies, a public inquiry heard.

Letby, from Hereford, was sentenced to 15 life orders for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven more while working on the neonatal unit at Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.

The former nurse was moved from clinical duties into a clerical role in July 2016 after consultants began to believe she was linked to unexpected collapses and deaths of babies.

Ms Weatherley was asked to chair a grievance panel later that same year after Letby made a formal complaint about being moved off the neonatal unit. It later concluded that no evidence of wrong-doing had been provided.

Annette Weatherley told police: “The consultants are doing their own kind of investigation whatever it was they were doing, whether they liked or disliked her, there were lots of rumours around.

“They decided it was her, she was the baby killer. They were openly talking about her as the baby killer. They went to the trust and they said ‘she is the baby killer, we don’t want her on the unit’.”

One of the rumours Ms Weatherley outlined was the advances made to Letby by a consultant, the Thirlwall Inquiry into the events surrounding the killer nurse’s crimes was told.

She told detectives: “I can’t remember who said it but there was a rumour… a consultant had made it clear he had an interest in her and she had rebuffed it.”

The officer asked: “What, physically?”

“Yes physically", Weatherley replied. "It was someone that told me that, I can’t remember who it was when I was there but there was a rumour.”

The inquiry has heard previously that Letby denied to a nursing manager that either neonatal clinical lead Dr Stephen Brearey or children’s services lead Dr Ravi Jayaram had ever made a pass at her.

Karen Rees, the then head of nursing in urgent care, said she had queried whether there was a “personal motive” to the concerns expressed about Letby by both consultants.

She said: “I asked her if either of them had ever made a pass at her. She replied ‘absolutely not’.”

The inquiry is expected to sit until early 2025, with findings published by late autumn of that year.

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