An inquiry into a neonatal nurse, Lucy Letby, who was convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to kill seven others at the Countess of Chester Hospital in England, has begun.
The inquiry will not review Letby’s conviction but will examine the failures that led to repeated harm to babies, staff and management’s responses, and parents’ treatment.
Justice Kathryn Thirlwall said the Court of Appeal had reviewed the convictions with a clear result, but noted that a loud chorus on the validity of selected evidence came from people not present at the trial.
The Thirlwall Inquiry will also explore the culture within the National Health Service, which had a similar scandal led to an inquiry after nurse Beverley Allitt was convicted of killing four infants and attacking nine others at Grantham Hospital in 1991.
