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The ‘outpouring’ of speculation about the safety of Lucy Letby’s convictions has caused ‘enormous additional distress’ to the families of her victims, the chair of a public inquiry set up to examine the baby murders has said.
Letby, 34, is serving 15 whole-life sentences after being found guilty of murdering seven newborns and trying to kill seven others while working on the neo-natal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital between the summers of 2015 and 2016.
She lost an appeal against her 14 convictions from the first trial earlier this year, but that has not stopped a growing number of experts, commentators and political figures raising questions and calling for them to be reviewed again.
The former nurse has now appointed a new legal team tasked with applying to the Criminal Cases Review Commission for the case to be sent back to the Court of Appeal.
Chaired by Lady Justice Thirlwall, the investigation at Liverpool Town Hall is to examine how Letby was able to attack babies and how its bosses handled concerns.
But it will not address the question of her guilt.
Letby, 34, is serving 15 whole-life sentences after being found guilty of murdering seven newborns and trying to kill seven others
Chair of the inquiry Lady Justice Thirlwall at Liverpool Town Hall (Picture: PA)
Opening the inquiry, Lady Justice Thirlwall said that appeal judgment was a ‘watershed’ as the parents of the nurse’s victim could now turn their minds to the inquiry.
She said: ‘At last the parents had finality, or so it seemed. But it was not to be. In the months that followed…there has been a huge outpouring of comment from a variety of quarters on the validity of the convictions.
‘As far as I am aware it has come entirely from people who were not at the trial. Parts of the evidence has been selected and there has been criticism of the defence at the trial.
‘All of this noise has caused enormous additional distress to the parents who have already suffered far too much.’
Lady Justice Thirlwall went on: ‘It is not for me to set about reviewing the convictions. The Court of Appeal has done that with a very clear result.’
Court artist sketch of Lucy Letby appearing in the dock at Manchester Crown Court during her trial (Picture: PA)
She said the parents of those harmed had waited years for their questions to be answered and it was her responsibility to focus on the inquiry’s terms of reference.
‘It is time to get on with this inquiry,’ she said.
Earlier she said the babies who died or who were injured would be at the ‘heart of this inquiry’.
Lady Justice Thirlwall said that the inquiry bears her surname so that the parents do not repeatedly see the name of the person convicted of harming their babies.
She said it was planned that the hearings in Liverpool would finish in early 2025 and …read more
Source:: Metro
