Lucy Letbys bosses facilitated a mass murderer by ignoring concerns about the serial baby killer, inquiry hears

The mother of one of Lucy Letbys victims has slammed bosses at the Countess of Chester Hospital and said they facilitated a mass murderer, an inquiry heard.

An inquiry into the events surrounding the crimes of Letby heard that a baby girls death in October 2015 could have been prevented if prompt and effective action was taken following the deaths of three infants in June of that year.

The serial killer had injected air into Child Is stomach and bloodstream as she finally took her life on her fourth attempt.

The mother accused bosses of trying to create their own narrative that Lucy Letby was a victim of bullying and harassment to protect the hospital from looking bad.

Lucy Letby (pictured) is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims

A court artists sketch of Lucy Letby giving evidence at Manchester Crown Court on July 24

The former neonatal nurse faced one charge of murder over Child I, and was found guilty.

During Letbys court case, the prosecution said Letby tried to kill the baby girl on three occasions before succeeding on the fourth, and that she had given her excessive air via her nasogastric tube. 

A massive amount of gas was found in her bowel and stomach, and a coroner ruled the first three incidents had left her with brain damage.

Letby sent the parents a sympathy card on the day of her funeral and kept an image of the card on her phone, it was heard.

In a statement read on her behalf, Child Is mother told the inquiry: I believe the doctors and nursing staff should have acted earlier and those in positions of authority at the hospital should have listened to them instead of trying to create their own narrative that Lucy Letby was a victim of bullying and harassment.

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Someone should have investigated the concerns fully at the time. This is what management are paid so handsomely to do. They shouldnt have been concentrating on saving their own skins and jobs and reputations.

Babies died because someone in an office being paid hundreds of thousands of pounds didnt want the hospital to look bad if they shut the neonatal unit down while they investigated why so many babies were deteriorating when they should have been thriving.

During Letbys court case, one of the doctors at the hospital said they were dismissed as just a bunch of complaining consultants when they raised suspicions.

The mother went on: I believe that much more should have been done after the first three babies had died within a short space of time in similar circumstances.

Body worn camera footage from Cheshire Constabulary of the arrest of Lucy Letby in 2018

Lady Justice Thirlwall at Liverpool Town Hall ahead of the hearings

Had prompt and effective action been taken at that time, so many other babies would have survived or not have suffered enduring life-changing harm.

How many babies needed to die or be seriously harmed for action to be taken to stop Lucy Letby? Sadly, we all now know the answer.

People paid huge salaries allowed this to happen. They made doctors apologise to Lucy Letby when she had murdered babies and continued to harm other babies. The Countess of Chester Hospital was totally blinded by self-preservation that they forgot why they exist - to remain true to the Hippocratic Oath.

Child Is mother told inquiry chair Lady Thirlwall that senior management should face sanctions if they ignore concerns raised by whistleblowers.

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She said: At the present time, there appear to be no sanctions against those who lied and kept information whilst babies were being killed and harmed by Lucy Letby.

It was only when it became untenable to keep up the pretence that they finally opened up on the scale of concerns raised against her and the number of babies that she had harmed.

I honestly believe that these people should have to explain why they didnt do something earlier. Why they ignored the multitude of concerns raised about Lucy Letbys conduct. Why their actions facilitated a mass murderer?

Recalling her experiences with Letby on the unit, Child Is mother said: Her face was always on the babies fundraising pictures.

I remember thinking she was a bit quiet and a bit odd. She always seemed a bit of a loner. We saw her around on the odd occasion but we didnt have much to do with her.

When she later received her daughters medical records, she said she was absolutely shocked at how involved Letby was with Child I.

She said: She is all over her notes. I have noticed a lot of the care was when I wasnt present.

Lady Justice Thirlwall, pictured, is chairing the inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall

Concluding her statement,the mother said: Our baby would have turned nine this year. We should have been watching her grow and play with her siblings and friends.

However, we have to somehow try to live with the fact all this has been taken away from her and us in the cruellest way possible. No parent should ever have to go through what we have been and continue to go through each and every day.

To understand how easily my beautiful girls death could have been prevented hurts even more.

Forever and a day, I will continue to ask why?

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

NHS bosses are alleged to have put the reputation of the Countess of Chester Hospital above mounting evidence that they had a serial killer on their payroll and spoke of a fear of blue and white police tape.

Rather than act on the consultants fears, they took Letbys side and found in her favour when she launched a grievance procedure against the NHS trust. 

The investigation at Liverpool Town Hall (pictured) is examining how Letby was able to attack babies on the Countess and Chester Hospitals neo-natal unit in 2015 and 2016

In evidence during the trial at Manchester Crown Court, Dr Ravi Jayaram, the units lead consultant, said he wished hed had the courage to go to police rather than rely on his superiors at board level to take action.

Speaking during Letbys trial for the attempted murder of a child known as Baby K, Dr Jayaram claimed there was a culture within the NHS aimed at preventing him and a group of fellow clinicians from becoming whistleblowers.

People didnt want to listen to us or to acknowledge problems, he told the jury. There was a strategy to keep us quiet.

Had I phoned the police they would have spoken to the chief executive and he would have told them to ignore them, theyre just a bunch of complaining consultants.

Maybe if Id had the courage I could have called the police and said I think theres a nurse killing babies, but (at the time) I trusted in an adherence to systems and process.

We spent a long time running into brick walls. I guess we put faith in our medical leaders at senior leadership level.

Its a matter of enormous regret to us that we didnt do it. If I knew then what I know now, I think we would have found different ways to escalate things.