Thirlwall Inquiry Says 7 Baby Murders Included Avoidable Deaths at Countess of Chester Hospital
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 15
Thirlwall Inquiry Says 7 Baby Murders Included Avoidable Deaths at Countess of Chester Hospital
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 15
Summary
A two-year public inquiry found some of the babies harmed by Lucy Letby at Countess of Chester Hospital could have been saved, concluding the neonatal unit failed to protect infants.
Justice Kathryn Thirlwall said staff and managers did not grasp that safeguarding action was required once a worker was suspected of deliberate harm, even before guilt was proven.
The report examined how Letby, now 36, was able to murder 7 babies and attempt to murder 7 others in 2015 and 2016 at the northwest England hospital.
The inquiry, which opened in September 2024, heard 60 days of evidence from dozens of witnesses and cost more than £18 million, or about $24 million.
Its findings are contentious because the inquiry did not revisit Letby’s guilt, a question that has increasingly shadowed her 2023 and 2024 convictions and life sentence.