While convicted baby-killer Lucy Letby languishes in prison, police are widening their investigation into senior staff at the NHS hospital she worked at.
Letby is serving 15 whole-life terms for murdering seven newborns and attempting to kill another seven between 2015 and 2016 while working as a nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester. After her initial trial and conviction, she was tried again in July last year for the attempted murder of a premature baby girl. The child murderer is currently at HMP Bronzefield, bunking with the country’s most-dangerous female prisoners, and she will remain behind bars for the rest of her life.
But now it appears there may be more suspects set to face consequences for allegedly failing to do more to stop the murderer’s callous spree. Cheshire Constabulary said yesterday that its corporate manslaughter investigation is being widened to gross negligence manslaughter, adding that several hospital chiefs are the focus of their probe.
In a statement yesterday, Cheshire Police’s Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes – who is the senior investigating officer – said that “Operation Hummingbird” is focused on “senior leadership” and whether there was any criminality in the way they responded to the increasing fatalities on the ward.
The DSI said while the suspects were aware of the investigation, the police have not yet release any names as no charges have yet been laid. During the Thirlwall Inquiry – which was set up to examine the conduct of staff at the hospital – lawyers representing families of victims argued that hospital managers exhibited “denial, deflection and delay”.
Senior staff were criticised for failing to “act with professional curiosity” while the diabolical spree was happening. This was despite the hospital’s leading consultants flagging their concerns three years before her 2018 arrest.
Police say that they’re investigating hospital chiefs over alleged “grossly negligent action or inaction of individuals” who were managing the Countess of Chester at the time of Letby’s horror offences between June 2015 and 2016.There has been an outcry from the families of the deceased demanding the people responsible for the hospital where the deaths took place should also face justice for their alleged failure to stop the killings.
The Thirlwall Inquiry heard from one mother whose baby girl was killed in October 2015, who believed the bosses “facilitated a mass murderer” by ignoring the concerns raised by consultants. She said that her child’s death could have been prevented if “prompt and effective action” had been taken after three infants died in June.
Police have been clear to stress that the ongoing investigation has no reflection on the guilt of the child killer, with DSI Hughes saying: “It is important to note that this does not impact on the convictions of Lucy Letby for multiple offences of murder and attempted murder.”
However, Letby’s lawyers came out today to assert that expert evidence compiled by her defence team “points the finger” in a “very different direction” from where police are looking. Police have decided not to put a timescale on their investigation, saying that while the probe is continuing, there is “no set timescales” for either the corporate manslaughter or gross negligence manslaughter.
It’s likely that the next step in the case will be to lay formal charges against the suspected bosses, and for a prosecution to begin, though it’s still unknown whether this will happen. Should suspects be found guilty, the maximum term for gross negligence manslaughter is life imprisonment, though the sentence can vary significantly, with typical terms ranging from one and 18 years in prison.
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