Lucy Letby 'likely murdered and assaulted more babies'

Lucy Letby 'likely' murdered or assaulted more babies before she killed her first known victim, a senior paediatrician told a public inquiry on Tuesday.

Dr Stephen Brearey said he now believes collapses and deaths of other children before June 2015 were suspicious.

Although he insisted that neither he or his consultant colleagues recognised a member of staff could be deliberately causing harm prior to that date.

'Neither me or my colleagues had concerns at the time, we just thought we were going through a busy patch or a particularly difficult patch,' he said.

Peter Skelton KC, who is representing families of children murdered or harmed, said: 'You made a statement that on reflection you thought it is likely Lucy Letby didn't start becoming a killer in June 2015, Baby A was murdered on June 8.

Is it your view that she had murdered or assaulted children in your hospital prior to that date?'

Dr Brearey, the lead consultant for the neo-natal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital, replied: 'I think that's likely, yes.'

Mr Skelton added: 'On reflection now, do you look back and see a number of unexpected collapses or deaths, which with information now available to you appear suspicious?

'Yes,' the medic added.

Letby, 34, was convicted of murdering seven infants and trying to kill seven more on the unit between June 2015 and June 2016.

However, Cheshire police's investigation is ongoing and detectives are examining 4,000 babies she cared for during the 'footprint' of her career, dating back to 2012, including two placements she undertook as a student at Liverpool Women's Hospital, in 2012 and 2015.

The inquiry has already heard from a registrar, Dr Rachel Lambie, who said around a fortnight before Letby murdered Baby A – a premature twin boy who was her first victim - another 'very, very unusual event' had occurred on the ward.

Although she didn't go into details, Dr Lambie confirmed she's given a statement to Cheshire police about the incident.

Dr Brearey said that, prior to June 2015, staff on the unit didn't realise the 'thermostat had been turned up,' with more babies suffering problems or events they didn't understand, because they initially tried to 'normalise' what was happening by finding medical reasons for infants falling unexpectedly ill.

'We work in the NHS, it's not perfect, and there are lots of rational ways to explain away (which) looking back on it, it doesn't make sense,' he added. 

'Blaming the transport service, blaming another Trust for sending babies back when weren't completely stable, rather than taking a step back and thinking what's happening here?'

He added: 'In retrospect, although I thought our reporting culture on the unit was good and that staff were very aware to report things that they thought went wrong, I think some of the incidents occurring in the indictment period and probably before were babies that deteriorated that could have triggered an incident. 

'On reflection I think it's likely that Letby didn't start becoming a killer in June 2015, or didn't start harming babies in June 2015, I think it's likely that her actions prior to then over a period of time changed what we perceived to be abnormal.'

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Dr Brearey said after Letby was redeployed into an administrative role, following the deaths of her two final victims, two triplet brothers, a year later in June 2016, there was so much 'secrecy' and 'intimidation' from senior hospital managers directed towards the consultants that it felt like they were working in North Korea or the old East Germany.

At some point in 2017, Dr Brearey also described having an 'uncomfortable' conversation with the parents of a child not involved in Letby's trial, who he feared had been murdered, but who he could not be open with.

He said: 'I remember feeling quite awkward about the concerns they had. I could easily answer in terms of specifics, they could tell something wasn't quite right, their senses were up. 

'It didn't sit with me at all well and I felt very uncomfortable doing it, but I didn't feel in a position to let them know I was worried about a nurse murdering their baby, as well as others.'

The inquiry, sitting at Liverpool Town Hall, is expected to sit until early 2025, with findings published by late autumn of that year.