Posted 09 September 2024 - 14:00
Posted 09 September 2024 - 14:00
News
Lucy Letby: what is the purpose of the public inquiry?
Thirlwall Inquiry will examine events at trust where former neonatal nurse Lucy Letby worked and hear evidence from parents of victims, trust managers and nurse colleagues, amid claims from her solicitor that she may be innocent. A solicitor representing six families talks of how upsetting the ‘ongoing tragedy’ has been for them
Thirlwall Inquiry will examine events at trust where the former neonatal nurse worked and hear evidence from parents and staff, amid claims from her solicitor that she may be innocent
The public inquiry into the crimes of former neonatal nurse Lucy Letby will start tomorrow (10 September) in an attempt to find answers for the victims’ families and ensure lessons are learned.
Letby is serving 15 whole-life sentences for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of seven others while she worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
The Thirlwall Inquiry proceedings will begin at 10am tomorrow at Liverpool Town Hall, and will examine events at the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust where Letby was employed and hear evidence from parents of victims, trust managers and fellow nurses.
The inquiry is independent and cannot determine criminal or civil liability, but can highlight where failings have occurred. It will investigate three broad areas, including the experiences of the parents of the babies involved, the conduct of staff at the hospital and the actions of management, as well as the overall effectiveness of NHS management and governance structures in terms of keeping babies safe in hospital
Letby barrister plans to make fresh appeal
Meanwhile, Letby’s new legal team has announced it is considering a fresh legal challenge to her conviction, with her new barrister Mark McDonald telling BBC Radio 4’s File on 4 programme that there is ‘a strong case that she is innocent’.
He told the show that he plans to make an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission for Letby’s case to be sent back to the Court of Appeal. Two separate applications for appeal have already been denied.
Senior experts want inquiry’s remit to be widened
Last month The Guardian reported that 24 senior neonatal experts and professors of statistics had written to the government urging it to either pause the inquiry or expand its remit due to their concerns about ‘possible negligent deaths that were presumed to be murders’.
The private letter warned that the inquiry’s narrow terms of reference could stop lessons being learned and could lead to a failure in understanding and examining ‘alternative, potentially complex causes for the deaths’.
However the inquiry, led by Court of Appeal judge Lady Justice Thirlwall, has confirmed the terms of reference will remain as planned and the first days will be dedicated to hearing opening statements from legal counsels.
From 16 September the inquiry will begin to hear evidence from witnesses regarding part A of the inquiry – the experiences of all the parents of the babies named in the indictment.
Families’ solicitor says they have to deal with ‘enormous ongoing tragedy’
Tamlin Bolton from Switalskis Solicitors, who is representing the families of six of the victims, told the BBC Breakfast TV programme on Monday that her clients are finding the continued speculation over Letby’s convictions ‘really difficult’.
She added: ‘I can’t stress enough how upsetting that has been for all of the families that I represent. It’s really difficult for a lot of them. They’re all dealing with this enormous ongoing tragedy.’
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