An English judge has issued a scathing report blaming dysfunctional management for failing to protect babies at the hospital where nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering seven infants.
Justice Kathryn Thirlwall’s inquiry into baby deaths found that the Countess of Chester Hospital, located in northwestern England, could have potentially saved some infants from death and injury if staff had intervened sooner when children began collapsing.
“Errors were made by nurses, doctors and managers,” Thirlwall stated. “There was also complete failure at all levels to invoke safeguarding procedures at any point.”
Letby, 36, is currently serving a life sentence for the murders of seven babies and the attempted killing of seven others. She has maintained her innocence, and her defense team, supported by numerous scientists, is seeking to overturn her conviction.
Thirlwall’s inquiry did not re-examine Letby’s convictions. Instead, it focused on how institutional failures exposed babies to harm and how hospital staff and management responded, including their treatment of parents. The inquiry specifically highlighted the failure of staff to intervene when it became apparent that someone was deliberately harming infants.
“How many lives could have been saved had the hospital acted differently?” the judge questioned. “It is clear that some babies would have been saved and some attacks would have been prevented if action was taken earlier.”
Letby was convicted in 2023 of the murders of seven infants and the attempted murders of six others. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on one additional attempted murder charge, which was retried, leading to a conviction in July. She received 15 life sentences with no possibility of parole, making her one of only four women in the United Kingdom to receive such a severe sentence.
Prosecutors stated that Letby harmed infants in ways that left minimal evidence, including injecting air into their bloodstreams, administering air or milk into their stomachs via nasogastric tubes, poisoning them with insulin, and interfering with breathing tubes. She was the sole employee on duty in the neonatal unit during the period when the children collapsed or died between June 2015 and June 2016. Prosecutors characterized her as a “constant malevolent presence.”