Hospital ex-bosses accused of ‘opportunistic’ name for halt to Lucy Letby inquiry | Lucy Letby

Former bosses on the hospital the place Lucy Letby labored have been accused of “opportunistically” calling for the general public inquiry into her crimes to be halted to cover their “catastrophic” failures.

The previous executives on the Countess of Chester hospital mentioned for the primary time on Tuesday they believed there was a “actual probability” Letby was harmless, as they known as for the investigation to be paused.

Nonetheless, households of the jailed nurse’s victims mentioned the senior managers have been making an attempt to evade duty for his or her “many failures”.

“The purposes to cease the inquiry are, on Letby’s half, an try to regulate the narrative, and on the a part of the executives to keep away from criticism,” mentioned Richard Baker KC, representing the dad and mom of 12 of the infants.

The inquiry chair, Girl Justice Kathryn Thirlwall, is because of announce on Wednesday whether or not she’s going to proceed along with her report or request for it to be suspended.

Thirlwall, whose report is because of be printed later this yr, has the authorized authority to pause the inquiry however solely the well being secretary, Wes Streeting, can droop it.

Letby, 35, is serving 15 whole-life jail phrases after being convicted of murdering seven infants and making an attempt to kill one other seven on the Countess of Chester hospital in north-west England. The previous nurse, who has all the time protested her innocence, has misplaced two makes an attempt to overturn her convictions on the court docket of enchantment.

The Legal Circumstances Evaluation Fee (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, is analyzing recent materials submitted by a spread of specialists on behalf of Letby final month.

Legal professionals for Letby and the previous executives have argued it might be flawed for the decide to proceed along with her report after a global panel of specialists discovered no proof she had murdered or harmed any of the infants she was accused of attacking.

Kate Blackwell KC, the barrister for the previous leaders, mentioned considerations about Letby’s guilt had been “dismissed as noise” by the Thirlwall inquiry however should now be addressed.

She mentioned the decide should “think about fastidiously earlier than producing a report primarily based upon the bedrock of Lucy Letby’s convictions”, including: “The rising considerations expressed by world-class specialists are in actual hazard of dissolving that bedrock right into a seashore of shifting sands.”

The previous bosses – who embody the hospital’s ex-chief govt Tony Chambers and former medical director Ian Harvey – are anticipated to face criticism from Thirlwall over their dealing with of the case.

In a closing assertion printed on Tuesday – the penultimate day of hearings – the previous executives mentioned there gave the impression to be a “actual probability” that there have been “different explanations” for the deaths and that the decide’s last report ought to be paused, or considerably diminished, till the result of Letby’s enchantment.

Rachel Langdale KC, the pinnacle of the inquiry’s authorized workforce, mentioned its “central function” was to assist maintain infants secure sooner or later, suggesting that this might be impeded if the report is delayed “for an unknown interval”.

She mentioned there was additionally a threat that Thirlwall’s suggestions would “lose pressure” in the event that they have been stripped away from a report that explored the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

Baker criticised what he described as a “bare try by the executives to keep away from criticism” by calling for the inquiry to be halted.

He mentioned Letby’s new defence workforce had mounted a “slick media marketing campaign” to advertise her claims of innocence. The dad and mom of infants who died, he mentioned, didn’t need their lives to be a “sideshow inside a ghoulish media circus”.

“For all of the bells and whistles that is perhaps connected to a press convention, there’s nothing exceptional or new in regards to the proof being offered,” Baker added. “The theories could have altered however this might hardly be mentioned to be new proof.”

Peter Skelton KC, for the households of seven of the infants, mentioned the executives had “catastrophically” failed to make sure affected person security and have been now “making an attempt opportunistically to droop the inquiry’s work”.

“What has been offered with nice fanfare as new and incontrovertible proof seems to be previous and stuffed with analytical flaws,” he instructed the inquiry, describing the brand new medical speculation as primarily based on “fragile towers of hypothesis”.

Blackwell, for the executives, denied that their try and halt the inquiry represented an “evasion of accountability”.

Even when Letby was harmless of harming the infants, she mentioned, that may “not essentially exonerate” the previous bosses. “There have been vital points affecting the Countess of Chester hospital on the related time, which led to the deaths of infants on the neonatal unit, which mustn’t have occurred,” she mentioned.

“If Lucy Letby’s convictions are finally quashed, questions will in fact stay for the senior managers. However these questions will then be primarily based on a completely totally different factual situation.”

She mentioned the previous executives accepted that they need to have contacted police practically a yr earlier, and that “they need to have been extra open, they need to have been extra candid” with the households of the infants.