By Sam Tobin
LIVERPOOL, England, Sept 15 (Reuters) - British nurse Lucy Letby was able to murder seven newborns because of a "complete failure" to protect babies at the hospital at which she worked, and some of the deaths could have been avoided, the chair of an inquiry said on Tuesday.
Inquiry chair Kathryn Thirlwall criticised senior staff for not acting sooner, blaming dysfunctional management at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northern England and a basic lack of understanding of safeguarding.
Letby, 36, was convicted in 2023 of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others, making her Britain's most prolific serial child killer of modern times. She was later convicted of another attempted murder charge.
Prosecutors said Letby attacked the newborns by giving them an overdose of insulin, injecting them with air or force-feeding them milk between June 2015 and June 2016, in a case that shocked Britain and drew worldwide attention.
But Letby, who was sentenced to life without parole and maintains she is innocent, has also been the subject of a growing campaign, backed by some medical experts and specialists, which has publicly questioned her convictions.
Thirlwall, who previously criticised "noise" around the case, did not address Letby's guilt or innocence in her report, dealing with the Countess of Chester Hospital's response and whether suspicions should have been raised earlier.
"My focus has been on the questions asked in the (inquiry's) terms of reference, not on the guilt of Lucy Letby or on her convictions," Thirlwall said.
The contents of her report, though, will be pored over by those who assert Letby's innocence and examined by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body that reviews potential miscarriages of justice and is considering an application from Letby's legal team.
REPORT CRITICISES FAILURE TO ACT
"Once there was suspicion that Letby may be causing harm deliberately, safeguarding steps should have been taken," Thirlwall said as she delivered her final report.
She added: "No one seems to have thought that safeguarding action is required when a member of staff is suspected of causing deliberate harm. Suspicion is enough."
She made a series of recommendations to improve neonatal services in the state-run National Health Service, calling on the government to tackle the "long-standing underfunding of hospital services for babies and children".
Thirlwall also suggested a series of measures to protect patients, including fitting cots and incubators with cameras, stronger insulin storage safeguards and an NHS protocol for when staff are suspected to have deliberately harmed a patient.
Her report was particularly critical of senior executives and nursing leaders at the Countess of Chester Hospital, saying at least some of Letby's crimes could have been prevented if action was taken sooner.
Three senior hospital managers were arrested last year on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter and remain under investigation, Cheshire Police said, with one of the three also suspected of perverting the course of justice.
Evidence submitted by the force in support of further charges relating to Letby's time working at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women's Hospital was, however, deemed to be insufficient by prosecutors last year.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Alex Richardson, Alexandra Hudson)
