There have been multiple calls for a halt in the inquiry into the alleged murders of babies at the Countess of Chester hospital including from the forming nursing director at the trust where Lucy Letby worked. Lady Justice Thirlwall said that lawyers for the former hospital executives including chief exec Tony Chambers, medical director Ian Harvey, director of nursing Alison Kelly and HR director Sue Hodkinson had written to the secretary of state for health to seek a suspension of the inquiry.

The inquiry has also received a letter from Letby’s new solicitors which estimates that £10m has already been spent so far despite ‘overwhelming and compelling evidence’ of the former nurse’s innocence. Louise Mortimer of Bhandal Law has written that the inquiry’s terms of reference were drafted on the basis that the former nurse was ‘guilty, and therefore will not consider any evidence which contradicts this’. ‘If, given the overwhelming evidence that the convictions are unsafe, they are overturned, then any report produced by the inquiry will be based on the wrong premise,’ it continues. ‘This error will pollute the very nature of the report, and any conclusions or indeed recommendations will be of little value. In short, it will defeat the purpose of a public inquiry to fully and fearlessly understand the circumstances in which the babies died or became unwell.’

The Justice Gap reported last month on the extraordinary press conference hosted by Dr Shoo Lee who chaired an international panel of neonatologists and medical experts who reviewed the deaths of babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and found no evidence here.

‘The combination of several compelling reports from international experts, the failure by the prosecution to properly disclose material relevant to the defence, and analysis by leading statisticians conclusively show the jury would likely be misled when they were told of spikes of in deaths and showed an unreliable staff rota, and a lead prosecution expert, who has changed his position on critical factors since the trial will show that any final report from the inquiry recommendations will not only be redundant but likely unreliable.’
Louise Mortimer of Bhandal Law

Among the revelations in the letter sent by Lucy Letby’s solicitors this morning: a meeting will soon take place between Letby’s defence team and the CCRC commissioner assigned to her case, “to talk through the large, authoritative, body of new clinical evidence.” https://t.co/wFrN9pF3G1

— The Trials of Lucy Letby (@LucyLetbyTrials) March 17, 2025

Sir David Davis, the conservative MP who chaired last month’s press conference, has also written to the inquiry arguing that its work ‘predicated on the presumption that Lucy Letby’ conviction is safe’ when there is ‘now a wealth of authoritative voices questioning that conviction’ will ‘undermine’ its conclusions ‘and potentially lead to more babies, dying unnecessarily’.