Hospital boss tells inquiry Lucy Letby's father 'threatened guns to my head' over allegations

Lucy Letby's father threatened "guns to my head" during a meeting when concerns were raised about his daughter, a hospital boss has told an inquiry.

Tony Chambers, the former Chief Executive of the Countess of Chester Hospital, described how Mr Letby was angry at allegations surrounding his daughter in December 2016 and felt she had been treated unfairly.

Mr Chambers led the NHS trust during the time the neonatal nurse murdered seven babies and attempted to murder seven others in 2015 and 2016.

"Her father was very angry, he was making threats that would have just made an already difficult situation even worse," Mr Chambers told the Thirlwall Inquiry, into the events surrounding Letby’s crimes.

"He was threatening guns to my head and all sorts of things."

Earlier, Mr Chambers apologised to the families of the victims of Letby, “for the pain that may have been prolonged” by his decision-making.

Giving evidence at the Inquiry Mr Chambers said: “Right at the outset I just want to offer my heartfelt condolences to the families whose babies are at the heart of this inquiry.

“I can’t imagine the impact this has had on your lives and I am truly sorry for the pain that may have been prolonged by any decisions or actions I took in good faith.”

The former nurse told the hearing the first he knew of concerns from consultant paediatricians that Letby may be deliberately harming babies was when he met them in late June 2016.

Months after Lucy Letby was removed from caring for babies over patient safety concerns, and Tony Chambers told her: “Your resilience, Lucy, you astound me.”

The conversation took place in December 2016 after the serial child killer was redeployed to an administrative role at the Countess of Chester Hospital in July but was due to go back to the unit weeks before the police were finally called in by the hospital in May 2017.

Letby went on to launch a grievance against her employers, which was upheld in December, over the decision to take her out of the neonatal unit.

The inquiry heard the nurse was said to have felt consultants Dr Stephen Brearey and Dr Ravi Jayaram had “orchestrated a campaign” against her and that some doctors on the unit referred to her publicly as “angel of death” and “murderer on the unit”.

A meeting with Letby, her parents, John and Sue, and Mr Chambers took place on 22 December 2016 in which Mr Letby called for the “instant dismissal” of the two consultants.

Giving evidence on Wednesday, Mr Chambers said: “Letby’s family, it is fair to say, were very upset and very angry about how they felt she had been treated unfairly by the trust.

“I’m prepared to accept that we had not been open and honest with her at the time.

“Letby’s father was very angry, he was making threats.

“He was making threats that would have just made an already difficult situation even worse by threatening GMC (General Medical Council) referrals to the doctors.

During the meeting, Mr Chambers told Letby: “Your resilience, Lucy, you astound me.”

Mr Chambers told the inquiry: “I say it twice.”

Counsel to the inquiry Nicholas de la Poer KC said: “Have you ever made such a statement in relation to the consultants for the bravery they showed when trying to speak out to keep babies safe?”

Mr Chambers said: “Yes, in many of the meetings that took place during July 2016.

“If you look at the notes, all of the meeting notes end with a reference to thanking everyone for their contributions, for their open candid contributions to the discussion and a very clear statement about these matters being really difficult, let’s take care and look after each other.”

Mr Chambers went on to ask the consultants to apologise to Letby for the alleged derogatory remarks, the inquiry has heard, and a follow-up meeting took place with Letby and her mother in early February 2017.

Letby told Mr Chambers she wanted individual apologies from four consultants in particular.

Mr de la Poer said: “Bringing in hindsight, she is sitting there knowing the crimes she has committed. Would you agree that was deeply manipulative behaviour?”

Mr Chambers said: “I have to say I didn’t feel I was manipulated at the time, I really don’t know.

“It was her father who seemed to be pulling the strings as opposed to herself.

“In handling these matters with Letby, I was very conscious to try as much as possible to avoid further escalation, particularly from her father.

“Her father was not at this meeting but you got a sense of his presence.”

Mr Chambers also told Letby: “Lucy, don’t worry, we have got your back.”

Asked for his response to that comment, Mr Chambers said: “Clumsy language. The intention here was to avoid any possible escalation.

“Eight years on with what we know and we look at this, these are the kind of things you know you didn’t get right.”

“But, as a chief executive of a large hospital with over 4,000 staff, you are very much reliant upon your people, the five different layers of governance that exist in the hospital, to do their job.”

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, sitting at Liverpool Town Hall, is expected to sit until early 2025, with findings published by late autumn of that year.

Gamal Fahnbulleh joins Mel Barham and Emma Sweeney to take a look at how Lucy Letby managed to slip under the radar for so long, carrying out her attacks unchallenged for a year at the Countess of Chester Hospital.