Kate Blackwell KC, leading Alexandra Tampakopoulos, Applies to Pause the Thirlwall Inquiry Following Lucy Letby’s Application to the Criminal Case Review Commission

Kate Blackwell KC, leading Alexandra Tampakopoulos, will today be making Closing Submissions and an application to suspend the Thirlwall Inquiry pending the outcome of Lucy Letby’s application to the Criminal Case Review Commission.

On 21 August 2023, after a trial at Manchester Crown Court, Lucy Letby was sentenced to life imprisonment and a whole life order in respect of each of her convictions for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of a further seven. The Court of Appeal has twice refused her permission to appeal against her convictions.

Following her convictions and a retrial, the Thirlwall Inquiry commenced its evidential hearings in September 2024 and has been investigating the following three broad areas:

A. The experiences of the Countess of Chester Hospital and other relevant NHS services, of all the parents of the babies named in the indictment.

B. The conduct of those working at the Countess of Chester Hospital, including the board, managers, doctors, nurses and midwives with regard to the actions of Lucy Letby while she was employed there as a neonatal nurse and subsequently, including:

(i) whether suspicions should have been raised earlier, whether Lucy Letby should have been suspended earlier and whether the police and other external bodies should have been informed sooner of suspicions about her

(ii) the responses to concerns raised about Lucy Letby from those with management responsibilities within the trust

(iii) whether the trust’s culture, management and governance structures and processes contributed to the failure to protect babies from Lucy Letby

C. The effectiveness of NHS management and governance structures and processes, external scrutiny and professional regulation in keeping babies in hospital safe and well looked after, whether changes are necessary and, if so, what they should be, including how accountability of senior managers should be strengthened. This section will include a consideration of NHS culture.

The application to suspend the Inquiry is made on behalf of the former senior managers of the Countess of Chester Hospital under Section 17 of the Inquiries Act 2005 given the centrality of Lucy Letby’s criminality to the Terms of Reference, pending the outcome of Lucy Letby’s application to the CCRC. Section 17 requires the Chair to act with fairness in making any decision as to the procedure or conduct of an inquiry. It follows the announcement last month by an international panel of leading experts of the results of a detailed review of the medical evidence in the criminal case against Lucy Letby. The Chair of the panel, Dr Shoo Lee, said that they had found “so many problems with the medical care” of many of the babies and nothing to support the claim that they had been attacked.