Bosses at serial killer Lucy Letby's hospital slammed for 'whitewash' and labelled an 'absolute disgrace' by GP mother of murdered baby, inquiry hears LISTEN: No.1 podcast the The Trial of Lucy Letby is back! Follow the latest updates from the Thirlwall Inquiry wherever you get your podcasts now By Liz Hull Published: 16:08 EDT, 16 September 2024 | Updated: 16:45 EDT, 16 September 2024 e-mail The GP mother of a premature baby boy murdered by Lucy Letby has demanded a face-to-face apology from a hospital manager who covered up suspicions about the killer nurse and lied about failings in her son's care. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, branded Ian Harvey, the former medical director at the Countess of Chester Hospital, an 'absolute disgrace,' saying he had 'thoroughly betrayed' her and her husband and compounded their grief and distress.
The couple's son, known as Baby C, was the second baby boy murdered by Letby, 34, in the space of a week, in June 2015. But his mother told the public inquiry into Letby's crimes that they had no clue the hospital was investigating a spike in neo-natal deaths until they read about it in a local newspaper article a year later, in July 2016. When she turned up at the hospital's bereavement office to find out what was going on, another senior manager, then director of nursing, Alison Kelly, apologised and reassured her the investigation, which was being carried out by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, was a 'formality' because there had been a 'very small increase in deaths' and they 'weren't expecting anything to come from it.
' Podcast All episodes NEW SERIES: The Trial of Lucy Letby -The Inquiry is out now PODCAST: The Trial of Lucy Letby is back to address the doubters! LISTEN: The heart wrenching words of Baby K's mum at the Letby trial PODCAST: Letby found guilty again, listen to reactions to the verdict Letby Trial: The final words read to the jury before the verdict Play on Apple Spotify Lucy Letby (pictured) is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims Body worn camera footage from Cheshire Constabulary of the arrest of Lucy Letby in 2018 Ian Harvey (pictured) the former medical director at the Countess of Chester Hospital, was branded an 'absolute disgrace,' She also reassured the mother she would be kept informed. But the couple heard nothing for another seven months until they received a phone call one Friday evening, saying the RCPCH report had been leaked to a Sunday newspaper. When Baby C's mother collected a copy a few days later she was told there were sections missing relating to babies that needed further investigation but plans were in place to meet the families and 'Baby C was probably not one of them.
' Read More Breathing tubes became dislodged on 40% of shifts that Lucy Letby worked as a trainee nurse In fact, sections which recommended an external, independent review of each baby's death and detailed suspicions about Letby had been removed. 'We were very much being kept in the dark about what had happened to our child,' Baby C's mother said. Mr Harvey agreed to meet the couple two weeks later and, although he admitted there were 'some things that could have been done better' he reassured them nothing could have prevented their son's death.
The mother said it was only 'years later' that she discovered a specialist neonatologist had been commissioned to examine every death and no cause for her son's sudden collapse could be found. 'To find out now that, at the time Ian Harvey met with us, in Feb 2017, he was well aware of both the concerns about Letby and that the report about our son's death did contain criticism is an absolute disgrace,' she said. 'I cannot understand this at all from the perspective of a medic or in fact any human level whatsoever.
We continue to feel thoroughly betrayed by this, it has affected our grief, compounded our distress and given us a general sense of mistrust which we didn't have before.' She said she repeatedly demanded to see both the full RCPCH report and the full neonatologist review relating to her son, but Mr Harvey failed to send them, despite threats of legal action. A court artist's sketch of Lucy Letby giving evidence at Manchester Crown Court on July 24 A sign outside the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester Letby worked on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital (pictured) between June 2015 and June 2016 The investigation at Liverpool Town Hall (pictured) will examine how Letby was able to attack babies on the Countess and Chester Hospital's neo-natal unit in 2015 and 2016 It was only when she appealed to then Health Secretary Steve Barclay, following Letby's convictions and the establishment of the Thirlwall Inquiry last year - eight years after her son's death - that she finally received the reports.
The mother called for a duty of candour to be 'in-built' for everyone working in healthcare and for a regulatory body to be set up to improve accountability of NHS managers. Read More Lucy Letby's managers apologise for not calling in police sooner - but say medics didn't either Confirming that she also wanted a 'personal face to face apology' from Mr Harvey, she added: 'I feel very strongly now that Ian Harvey was desperately trying to stop us from asking further questions by providing a white-wash, gloss over of the report in the hope we would take his word for it and not ask any more questions. I feel we were treated extremely disrespectfully and it's added extremely to our distress.
' Lady Justice Thirlwall, sitting in Liverpool, is hearing from the parents of each baby involved in Letby's trials. The former nurse was convicted of murdering seven infants and trying to kill another seven children and is serving a whole life tariff, meaning she will never be freed. Earlier Baby C's mother broke down in tears as she described receiving a phone call from Alder Hey Children's Hospital, in Liverpool, where a post-mortem was being carried out on her son, telling her that staff had dressed him and he 'looked beautiful.
' 'I found this comment particularly difficult because in life he had never been dressed and if anyone was going to dress him it should have been me, as his mother,' she said. She also described an incident when Letby interrupted the couple while they were cradling their dying son as 'horrendous.' The trial heard that, before the baby's death, Letby brought in a ventilator basket or 'cold cot' and plugged it in, saying: 'You've said your goodbyes, do you want me to put him in here?' The mother added: 'We were having this very private difficult time, which went on for several hours and my concern now is that she wanted us to leave him there, which doesn't bear thinking about.
It just adds to the extra horror that we already have to think about.' Liverpool Lucy Letby Share or comment on this article: Bosses at serial killer Lucy Letby's hospital slammed for 'whitewash' and labelled an 'absolute disgrace' by GP mother of murdered baby, inquiry hears e-mail.
