Lucy Letby news – latest: Killer nurse to be stripped of NHS pension after baby murders

Former chief crown prosecutor Nazir Afzal writes: Trust is the battle of our age. Institutions need it to fulfill their duties, but they seem to expect it rather than earn it. It’s no coincidence that the NHS is run by local “trusts” – but that’s just a word without them relentlessly upholding it.

With that in mind, the revelations about the Countess of Chester Hospital Trust in relation to the serial child killer Lucy Letby and those who managed her will have a devastating impact on the ability of the local population to trust them.

The key issue is a lack of accountability. They appear to many to be above the law – nobody gets held responsible for failures. In fact, they often get promoted. There appears to be no regulation that applies to senior managers, the same way it does doctors and nursing staff.

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The inquiry into serial killer Lucy Letby’s crimes will “fully investigate” how NHS whistleblowers were treated, Health Secretary Steve Barclay said.

Mr Barclay said he was engaging with the families affected by Letby’s “horrendous crimes” and that it was important that they had “full confidence” in the inquiry.

But he declined to say whether the inquiry would be given statutory footing, despite calls from a number of families involved.

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Rob Behrens and former home secretary Jack Straw have joined those calling for an inquiry into Letby’s crimes to be given a statutory footing, which would mean witnesses would be compelled to attend to give evidence.

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The health watchdog has joined calls for a full public inquiry into failings surrounding the Lucy Letby baby murders, warning that the NHS has a “culture of fear” in which leaders dismiss staff concerns.

The parliamentary health service ombudsman, Rob Behrens, has written to the health secretary warning that the culture of fear in NHS trusts is “not isolated” to the serial killer nurse’s hospital.

Letby, 33, Britain’s most prolific child killer, is serving a whole-life sentence for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six more between 2015 and 2016.

Following her conviction, reports surfaced that doctors had tried to raise concerns about her but their complaints were “ignored” by NHS executives at the Countess of Chester Hospital allowing her to continue her horrific killing spree.

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Serial killer nurse Lucy Letby was still being paid her NHS salary years after her murderous rampage ended, The Independent can reveal.

Britain’s most prolific killer of children, who is serving a whole-life sentence for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others between 2015 and 2016, continued to be paid until she was charged with the horrific crimes in 2020.

That meant she was still receiving her salary from the Countess of Chester Hospital four years after she killed the last child and two years after she was first arrested.

As a “band 5” nurse, Letby, 33, would have been earning between £28,406 and £34,581.

Rebecca Thomas and Archie Mitchell report:

Forcing criminals, such as Lucy Letby, to attend court for sentencing, runs the risk of letting defendants become “in control of events,” Sir Robert Buckland has said.

The nurse, 33, was not present to hear remarks from the judge and victims’ families on Monday (21 August) as she was given a whole life order for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six more.

The former justice secretary said he worries that “dragging” criminals into court for sentencing “makes it all about the defendant once again.”

Sir Robert suggested that sound and pictures should be beamed into cells if criminals refuse to appear.

Serial killer nurse Lucy Letby was free to target babies for nearly a year after she murdered her first patient as hospital leaders repeatedly ignored concerns raised by whistleblowers, The Independent has learned.

Staff raised concerns over three “unexplained” baby deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital in July 2015 but health chiefs failed to investigate the allegations, several hospital insiders have claimed.

Letby’s murderous rampage had started the month before and she went on to target another 14 infants over the next 12 months. The former nurse, 33, has now been found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others – becoming Britain’s most prolific child killer.

Rebecca Thomas reports:

The families of serial killer Lucy Letby’s victims branded the nurse “evil” as they gave emotional victim impact statements during her sentencing.

The 33-year-old did not appear in the dock at Manchester Crown Court on Monday as she was given a whole-life order after being convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six more.

But the judge, Mr Justice Goss, ordered that she be sent a transcript of his sentencing remarks and copies of the statements read out by the families of her victims.

Read what each family said in full:

Why do so many of my sister feminists assume that if a woman commits a terrible crime, a man must have made her do it, asks doctor Jessica Taylor. Because of the misogyny that still portrays us as healers and huggers, incapable of violent murder…

Detectives investigating serial killer nurse Lucy Letby say they were “surprised” by the amount of material they found at her home and that a “coded system” in her diaries helped officers uncover key evidence.

Letby, one of the most prolific child killers in modern British history, has been jailed for life for murdering seven newborn babies and trying to kill six more between June 2015 and June 2016 in the neonatal ward at the Count of Chester Hospital where she worked.

The 33-year-old, only the fourth woman in UK history told she will never be released from prison, deliberately injected infants with air, force-fed them with milk or poisoned them with insulin during a “cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder”.

Matt Mathers reports: