Lucy Letby’s parents asked for meeting with hospital bosses to discuss their ‘intolerable anguish’ during police investigation into her killing spree, inquiry told

Lucy Letby’s parents asked hospital bosses for an urgent meeting due to their ‘unbearable fear’ after police began investigating their serial killer daughter, a public inquiry heard today.

John and Susan Letby wrote to the then chairman of the Countess of Chester Hospital, Sir Duncan Nichol, in May 2017, two months after Cheshire Constabulary was called in to investigate the increased number of infant deaths in the neonatal unit.

The couple told Sir Duncan: ‘It’s now a year since our nightmare began. There’s a saying, “Innocent until proven guilty,” but that doesn’t seem to apply to Lucy.

“She is still the only one of all the staff in the neonatal unit who has been singled out for punishment.”

They called for an ‘urgent meeting’ with Sir Duncan and chief executive Tony Chambers to discuss matters, adding: ‘We would appreciate the meeting taking place as soon as possible as the fears surrounding this situation has become unbearable.’

Sir Duncan told the Thirlwall inquiry into Letby’s crimes that he did not respond to the email sent on July 7, 2017 and that he had not met the couple.

Letby was moved from the neonatal unit to an administrative role a year earlier, in July 2016, after pediatricians raised concerns that she may have deliberately harmed babies.

But she was furious that two consultants, Dr. Stephen Brearey, the department’s chief physician, and Dr. Ravi Jayaram, the head of the children’s department, had orchestrated “a campaign” against her and that some medics publicly called her “angel of the world ‘ had mentioned. death,” so she filed an employment complaint against the Trust.

Letby, 34, from Hereford, is serving 15 life orders after being convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others

It was confirmed and last week the inquiry heard that former retail manager Mr Letby, 78, called for the ‘immediate dismissal’ of the two consultants when he and his wife, along with Letby, met Mr Chambers to discuss the outcome of the complaint December 2016 to discuss. .

Giving evidence, Mr Chambers said Mr Letby was ‘very angry’ and ‘threatened with guns to my head and all kinds of other things.’

He denied being manipulated by the serial killer, but admitted telling Letby “don’t worry, we’ve got your back” and that he was “amazed” by her resilience.

Mr Chambers explained that he wanted to try to prevent further escalation ‘particularly from her father’, who had repeatedly called staff to complain about his daughter’s treatment.

Sir Duncan said he now appreciated the “huge amount of sympathetic support” given to Letby by senior managers, whose board “was not adequately scrutinized”.

The investigation found that some senior nurses got ‘too close’ to Letby, who was given information about investigations into the babies’ deaths before some consultants and all families.

Sir Duncan admitted it was a ‘serious failure’ by the hospital not to keep parents informed.

“We failed to exercise the proper duty of candor with the families and that was a failure,” he said. ‘A serious failure.

A grab from an officer’s body shows CCTV footage showing the moment Letby was arrested

“We were in the middle of a hugely complex process that we hadn’t yet completed, but that shouldn’t have meant we couldn’t keep people informed along the way, and we didn’t do that properly.”

Prior to his appointment to the Countess, Sir Duncan was head of the NHS for five years, between 1989 and 1994, including the period when another nurse, Beverley Allitt, murdered four children and attacked six others in a hospital in Grantham, Lincs.

Although he was responsible for distributing recommendations following the investigation into Allitt’s crimes among NHS hospitals in England and Wales, he insisted that Allitt was not at the forefront of his or anyone else’s mind in 2015 and 2016 the countess.

He also appeared to choke up as he apologized for “failing to keep babies safe” and for the “unimaginable grief” their parents have suffered.

Letby, 34, from Hereford, is serving 15 life sentences after being convicted at Manchester Crown Court between June 2015 and June 2016 of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts against one of her victims .

The study, which will take place at Liverpool Town Hall, is expected to last until early 2025, with the findings due to be published by the end of autumn that year.