An attempt by Nadine Dorries to block a statutory investigation into thousands of mental health deaths cost more lives, a bereaved mother has told an inquiry. Melanie Leahy campaigned for years for a public inquiry into the death of her son Matthew and hundreds of others failed by mental health care in Essex . It finally began last week after a long battle with ministers, including Dorries when she was a health minister in the last government.
Addressing the Lampard inquiry in Chelmsford on Tuesday, during an impact statement about the death of her 20-year-old son in 2012, Leahy said she was “shaken to the core” to discover earlier this month that Dorries had sent WhatsApp messages in 2020 describing how she was “picking off” families as part of an attempt to block their calls for a full public inquiry. In the messages, which were shown to the inquiry last week after being reported in the Daily Telegraph, Dorries told the then health secretary, Matt Hancock “we’re not going there” in relation to such calls. Referring to Leahy, Dorries said: “I’m picking off the other families and speaking to them one by one to get them onside to isolate her.
” An independent inquiry was set up in 2021, but it was only put on a statutory footing in 2023 after many potential witnesses ignored requests to cooperate. Last week the new chair, Kate Lampard, said it would examine “significantly in excess” of 2,000 mental health deaths between 2000 and 2023. Leahy said: “It s.