UK inquiry into baby killer Letby case begins hearing evidence

A public inquiry examining the wider circumstances around the case of Lucy Letby, the most prolific child serial killer in modern British history, opened its first public hearings Tuesday.

Letby was convicted of murdering seven newborn babies and attempting to kill seven others at the hospital neo-natal unit where she worked after two trials, the last of which ended earlier this year.

The 34-year-old former nurse is serving a rare whole-life sentence for the killings, which took place at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England between 2015 and 2016, and was refused an appeal bid earlier this year.

The start of the independent inquiry -- chaired by senior appeal court judge Kate Thirlwall -- comes amid heightened scrutiny of the convictions and Letby's new lawyer revealing that she was planning a fresh appeal.

A growing number of experts have raised concerns about aspects of Letby's trials, claiming that vital evidence may have been misinterpreted.

Thirlwall began by saying that the appeal court judgment decision meant that parents of the victims could focus on the inquiry, and criticised those questioning the conviction.

"At last the parents had finality, or so it seemed. But it was not to be. In the months that followed... there has been a huge outpouring of comment from a variety of quarters on the validity of the convictions," she said.

"As far as I am aware it has come entirely from people who were not at the trial," she added.

Armed with powers to compel evidence, Thirlwall will probe the wider circumstances around the case, including the response and conduct of the National Health Service (NHS), its staff and its regulators.

Held at Liverpool Town Hall and not livestreamed, its key objectives are "to seek answers for the victims' families and ensure lessons are learned".

- Vulnerable victims -

Letby, from Hereford, western England, was arrested and then charged in 2020 following a string of baby deaths at the Countess of Chester's neo-natal unit.

The prosecution at her first trial said she attacked her vulnerable prematurely-born victims, often during night shifts, by either injecting them with air, overfeeding them with milk or poisoning them with insulin.

The UK government said in October 2023 that there would be a public inquiry to examine events at the state-run hospital, two months after Letby's first convictions.

Proceedings kicked off at 10:00 am (0900 GMT with opening statements from lawyers for the inquiry and from legal representatives of so-called core participants.

They comprise people, institutions or organisations with a specific interest in the probe.

Hearings are expected to continue until at least the end of the year, with Thirlwall eventually compiling a report of her findings and recommendations, which may be released in phases or as a single document.

She cannot make any findings of civil or criminal liability.