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

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.

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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:

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.”

Three former bosses of UK nurse Lucy Letby, convicted of killing babies, arrested on suspicion of manslaughter

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.”

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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.

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.”

一项针对一名被判谋杀多名婴儿的英国护士的罪行为何长期未被发现的公开调查，揭露了她工作的英国医院存在的一系列失误，并得出结论：如果管理人员早些采取行动，一些婴儿本可以获救。

调查报告发现，露西·莱特比工作的医院存在“管理失调、治理不善、医院领导层与临床医生之间存在鸿沟，以及未能理解保障的基本原则”等问题。主持调查的凯瑟琳·瑟尔沃尔女法官周二表示。

她补充说：“在各个层面，都没有在任何时候启动保障程序，这完全是失职。”

莱特比因在 2015 年至 2016 年间在英格兰北部切斯特的一家医院工作时谋杀了 7 名儿童并企图谋杀另外 7 名儿童而被判处 15 个终身监禁。

此案将莱特比定性为英国最臭名昭著的连环杀童犯之一。但她始终坚称自己无罪，自2023年审判结束以来，人们对定罪所依据的证据强度提出了诸多质疑。去年，一个国际专家小组对检方提出的证据提出了质疑。

柴郡警察局/Getty Images

此次调查并未着重探究莱特比是否有罪，而是聚焦于她所工作的切斯特伯爵夫人医院是否本可以采取更多措施来预防这些死亡事件。尽管如此，调查结果很可能会被她的一些支持者用来强化这样一种论点：医院的系统性医疗失误至少在一定程度上是造成婴儿死亡的原因。

英国近代史上最具争议的审判之一的余波在三年多后仍在持续发酵，以下是您需要了解的内容：

2023年莱特比的刑事审判震惊了全国。

法庭获悉，这位现年 36 岁的前护士曾通过向婴儿的血液和胃中注入空气、过度喂奶、殴打婴儿以及用胰岛素毒害婴儿等手段，对她照顾的婴儿进行攻击。

詹姆斯·戈斯法官当时将她的罪行描述为“一场残酷、蓄意和冷酷的谋杀儿童的行动，受害者是最小、最脆弱的儿童”。

英国护士露西·莱特比（Lucy Letby）的三名前上司因涉嫌过失杀人被捕，莱特比曾因杀害婴儿罪被定罪。

她的罪行以及人们越来越质疑她如何能够长期逃脱侦查，引发了公众调查。

调查的部分任务是审查英国国家医疗服务体系 (NHS) 的应对措施，包括当最终有人对莱特比的行为提出怀疑时，高级职员是否应该采取不同的应对措施。

瑟尔沃尔的报告强烈批评了高级管理人员和高级护士，称他们在莱特比事件引发担忧时未能采取行动，同时明确指出“如果早些采取行动，一些婴儿就能获救，一些袭击事件就能避免”。

克里斯托弗·弗隆/盖蒂图片社

莱特比的支持者表示，检方提出的案件是基于间接证据，一个国际专家小组在 2025 年初表示，他们没有发现任何医学证据表明莱特比死于谋杀。

周一，莱特比的辩护律师马克·麦克唐纳表示，由 14 位国际专家组成的小组得出了相同的结论：莱特比被指控杀害的婴儿是自然死亡的。

“我有心理学家关于呈给陪审团的所谓‘供述’的报告。那根本不是供述。我还有产科医生的报告，其中提到了一些据称发生的伤情，这些伤情被呈给陪审团，被认为是外力造成的伤害。但事实并非如此，”他告诉BBC。

担任专家组主席的新生儿科医生李秀（Shoo Lee）表示，他在 1989 年撰写的一篇研究论文在莱特比的审判中被歪曲了。

李补充说：“在审判的17起案件中，没有任何医学证据表明存在因渎职导致死亡或伤害的情况。”

小组的调查结果在英国乃至全世界引起了媒体的广泛关注，人们纷纷质疑检方证据的力度。

该调查与莱特比的定罪没有直接关系，莱特比的定罪已经在上诉法院接受过检验。

然而，她的辩护团队已将证据提交给英国刑事案件复核委员会（CCRC）进行审查，该委员会负责调查潜在的冤案。

据 BBC 报道，刑事案件复审委员会 (CCRC) 主席表示，该委员会将密切关注调查结果。CCRC 是唯一有权在 Letby 的案件两次被驳回后将其发回上诉法院的机构。

瑟尔沃尔周二表示，“我无权妄加揣测或干涉刑事案件复核委员会的工作，该委员会正在处理莱特比的申请，要求将她的案件发回上诉法院重审。”