Hospital bosses tried to ‘shut doors’ in the early stages of the police investigation into Lucy Letby, a public inquiry heard today.
Former Detective Chief Superintendent Nigel Wenham said police were unaware of the spike in unexpected deaths on the neo-natal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital until March 2017 – nine months after the former neo-natal nurse was removed from working with patients.
Medical director Ian Harvey got in touch with the officer, who sat on the local Child Death Overview Panel, following pressure from medics, who were concerned executives were planning for Letby to return to work on the ward.
Mr Wenham said he initially met senior managers but a ‘powerful’ and ‘critical’ meeting with doctors a few weeks later, in May, reinforced his view that a criminal investigation into the spike in unexpected deaths was needed.
And he paid tribute to the tenacity of the medics, who he said repeatedly tried to raise concerns but were ‘shut down’ by senior managers.
‘That meeting, I can’t describe how powerful it was,’ Mr Wenham said.
‘They were knowledgeable. They had lived and breathed these events for several years and they had the opportunity now to just speak to someone and be listened to and believed… it felt as though we weren’t just going to push them away, like they had been in the past, or threatened or intimidated.
‘They were just very powerful in what they were saying and committed and we all owe them a great deal for coming forward and speaking out the way they did.’
Lucy Letby was found guilty of murdering seven newborn babies and attempting to kill six others between 2015 and 2016
This is the moment former neo-natal nurse Lucy Letby was arrested at her home in 2018
Mr Wenham said police should have been ‘notified earlier’ but added: ‘A lot of doctors involved did raise concerns repeatedly and continued to raise those concerns and they were shut down, sadly.’
Mr Wenham said he met with senior managers, including Mr Harvey and chief executive Tony Chambers, on May 12, ahead of a meeting with the consultants who had emailed him a detailed document outlining their concerns.
The officer said the document, which included graphs and tables on expected survival rates for premature babies, staffing levels and rotas and details of each individual infant death, was ‘incredibly powerful and important.’
But when he met Mr Chambers and Mr Harvey, Mr Wenham said they told him the information was ‘nothing new,’ and that it failed to highlight ‘specific allegations’ that would cause them to believe a criminal act had been committed.
Mr Chambers added that it could become a matter for the doctors’ watchdog, the General Medica Council, if the consultants’ refused to ‘move on’ and accept no wrongdoing had occurred, which he said would create a ‘more dangerous environment for sick babies.’
Asked about the tone of the meeting, Mr Wenham agreed it appeared ‘doors were trying to be shut’ by the senior managers at this early stage, and that they were ‘trying to direct a mindset.’
But Mr Wenham, a former detective who spent 30 years with Cheshire police investigating homicide and working in safeguarding and public protection, said it was ‘clear’ to him that police needed to go and speak to the consultants to make sure they could ‘speak freely’.
That meeting, with Dr Ravi Jayaram, Dr Stephen Brearey and Dr Susie Holt, three days later, on May 15, was the ‘most critical and important event,’ Mr Wenham added.
Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital
‘They were relieved they could speak to the police about their concerns. This further reinforced my view that this would now progress to a criminal investigation.’
The decision to launch Operation Hummingbird, Cheshire police’s investigation into the spike in deaths, was made later the same day.
Mr Wenham said the investigation team ‘couldn’t avoid’ the fact that Letby had been mentioned or that she was a ‘significant individual,’ but he insisted officers had a ‘very open mind’ from the outset.
Letby, 34, is currently serving 15 whole life sentences after being convicted of trying to murder seven babies and attempting to murder seven more – one infant she attacked twice – between June 2015 and June 2016.
The inquiry, at Liverpool Town Hall, is expected to sit until January.