Questions swirl over child killer Lucy Letby’s case as UK inquiry reveals major hospital failings

By Billy Stockwell, CNN

London (CNN) — A public inquiry into how the crimes of a British nurse convicted of murdering multiple babies went undetected for so long has uncovered a litany of failings at the UK hospital where she worked and concluded that some babies would have been saved had managers acted sooner.

The report found evidence of “dysfunctional management and governance, a gulf between hospital leadership and clinicians, and failure to understand the fundamentals of safeguarding” at the hospital where Lucy Letby worked, Lady Justice Kathryn Thirlwall who chaired the inquiry said Tuesday.

“There was also complete failure at all levels to invoke safeguarding procedures at any point,” she added.

Letby is serving 15 whole-life sentences for the murders of seven children and attempted murders of seven more between 2015 and 2016, while working at the hospital in Chester, northern England.

The case cast Letby as one of Britain’s most prolific child serial killers. But she has always maintained her innocence, and questions about the strength of the evidence her convictions were based on have proliferated since her trial concluded in 2023. Last year an international panel of experts challenged the evidence put forward by the prosecution.

The inquiry did not seek to examine Letby’s guilt, focusing instead on whether the Countess of Chester Hospital where she worked could have done more to prevent the deaths. Nonetheless, its findings will likely be used by some of her supporters to bolster the argument that systemic medical failures at the hospital were, at least in part, to blame for the infant deaths.

As the fallout from one of the most controversial trials in recent British history continues to spiral more than three years on, here’s what to know:

What crimes was Letby convicted of?

Letby’s criminal trial in 2023 horrified the nation.

The court heard how the former nurse, now 36, attacked babies in her care by administering air into their blood and stomachs, overfeeding them with milk, physically assaulting them and poisoning them with insulin.

Justice James Goss described her crimes at the time as a “cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder involving the smallest and most vulnerable of children.”

Her crimes and the growing questions over how she was able to escape detection for so long triggered a public inquiry.

Part of the investigation’s task was to examine the response of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), including whether senior staff should have responded differently when suspicions about Letby’s behavior were eventually raised.

Thirlwall’s report strongly criticized senior managers and senior nurses for failing to take action when concerns were raised about Letby, while making clear that “some babies would have been saved and some attacks would have been prevented if action was taken earlier.”

UK Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said she was “profoundly sorry” for the failures set out in the report, and the harm caused to the victims’ families. She also said training would be urgently reviewed and announced plans for the introduction of “cot cams” in neonatal units.

“This must be a turning point for the NHS,” she said.

Meanwhile, Jane Tomkinson, the hospital’s CEO, issued an apology and said the institution would address the report’s findings “with openness and a firm commitment to build on the progress we have already made.”

Cheshire Police, the principal force involved in Letby’s criminal case, said it would “carefully review” the contents of the report and “fully consider any relevant recommendations.”

Why do some think she’s innocent?

Letby’s supporters say the prosecution put forward a case based on circumstantial evidence, with a panel of international experts saying in early 2025 that it had found no medical evidence indicating murder.

On Monday, Letby’s defense lawyer Mark McDonald said the 14 international experts who made up the panel had come to the same conclusion: the babies Letby was accused of killing died naturally.

“I have reports by psychologists on the issue of what was presented to the jury as a confession. It wasn’t a confession at all. I have reports from obstetrics that talk about some of the injuries that were said to have taken place and presented to the jury as an injury, a forceful injury. They weren’t at all,” he told the BBC.

Dr. Shoo Lee, a neonatologist who chaired the expert panel, said a research paper he wrote in 1989 was misrepresented in Letby’s trial.

“There was no medical evidence to support malfeasance causing death or injury in any of the 17 cases in the trial,” Lee added.

The panel’s findings led to a surge of media interest in the UK and around the world questioning the strength of the prosecution’s case.

What does the inquiry mean for her convictions?

The inquiry has no direct bearing on Letby’s convictions, which have already been tested in the Court of Appeal.

However, her defense team has submitted evidence to the UK’s Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, for review.

The chair of the CCRC – the only organization with the power to send Letby’s case back to the Court of Appeal after two previous rejections – said the commission would pay close attention to the inquiry’s findings, according to the BBC.

Thirlwall said Tuesday, “it’s not for me to second guess or to cut across the work of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which is working on Letby’s application for her case to be referred back to the Court of Appeal.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.