LONDON (AP) — Lawyers for convicted baby killer Lucy Letby and former executives at the hospital where she worked have asked to halt an inquiry into the deaths after a panel of medical experts found no evidence of a crime, a judge said Monday.
Justice Kathryn Thirlwall announced the requests before hearing closing statements in the inquiry that began in September seeking accountability for staff and management for the harm to babies at Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England.
The inquiry was predicated on Letby's guilt, and Thirlwall had said she would not review the convictions after an appeals court upheld them. But lawyers for Letby said that if the convictions are overturned, the inquiry might reach the wrong conclusions, and 10 million pounds ($13 million) spent so far will have been a waste of taxpayer funds.
“In short, it will defeat the purpose of a public inquiry, to fully and fearlessly understand the circumstances in which the babies died or became unwell," attorney Louise Mortimer wrote in a letter to Thirlwall.
Thirlwall is expected to publish a final report in the fall.
Letby, 35, is serving multiple life sentences with no chance of release after being convicted of seven counts of murder and attempting to murder seven other infants while working as a neonatal nurse at the hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
Prosecutors said Letby left little or no trace when she harmed babies: injecting air into their bloodstreams, administering air or milk into their stomachs via nasogastric tubes, interfering with breathing tubes or poisoning them with insulin. They said she was the only employee on duty in the neonatal unit when the children collapsed or died.
But a group of 16 international medical experts in pediatrics and neonatology who reviewed the medical evidence concluded that natural causes or bad medical care led to the death or collapse of each newborn, Dr. Shoo Lee, a retired neonatologist from Canada, said last month.
The panel also questioned the premise that there was an unexplained spike in deaths at the hospital. It said evidence of schedules that showed Letby was present during all the deaths was “incomplete, selective and, therefore, meaningless."
Letby’s convictions are being examined by the Criminal Case Review Commission, which looks at potential miscarriages of justice. It could refer its findings to the Court of Appeal.
Former executives at the hospital — chief executive Tony Chambers, medical director Ian Harvey, director of nursing Alison Kelly and human resources director Sue Hodkinson — asked for the public inquiry to be halted after the medical panel released its findings.
The Crown Prosecution Service has said two juries convicted Letby and three appellate judges had rejected her arguments that the prosecution expert evidence was flawed.
Several related investigations remain active.
Cheshire police announced last week that its investigation into corporate manslaughter at the hospital had been expanded and was now looking at individual suspects for gross negligence manslaughter.
Letby's lawyer criticized that decision, based on the medical panel's findings.
“We now have substantial and significant expert evidence which completely demolishes the prosecution case against Lucy Letby and points the finger in a very different direction to that which the police are currently looking,” Mark McDonald said. "It is time they take a step back and ask themselves whether have they made a huge mistake.”
A separate investigation is looking into other deaths and near-deaths of babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Liverpool Women’s Hospital when Letby worked there between 2012 to 2016.
