The mother of a baby boy murdered by Lucy Letby has demanded a face-to-face apology from the hospital medical director who she said “kept her in the dark” over the circumstances of her son’s death.
She told the public inquiry into the events surrounding the crimes of the serial killer nurse that the first she knew that an individual was linked to Child C’s death was when Cheshire Police phoned the family in the early hours of July 7 2018 to inform them someone had been arrested on suspicion of his murder.
Giving evidence on Monday, Child C’s mother said: “We absolutely had no idea that there had been layer upon layer upon layer of concern voiced by various people within the hospital about the conduct of Lucy Letby and her association with these deaths. And to not inform us of any of this and for us to get a phone call out of the blue from a police officer in the early hours of the morning… it was an absolute shock that day. We had not anticipated that that was going to happen.”
Letby forced air down a feeding tube and into the stomach of Child C who died in June 2015, days after another fatal attack on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Child C’s mother said she was not even aware that another infant had died the same week until the start of the criminal trial that followed.
She said her family had “endured years of anxiety and stress” from the initial arrest of Letby to her convictions.
She told the inquiry: “The events of that night and everything that has happened since have left an indelible mark upon us which will stay with us for the rest of our lives.
“We had suffered immeasurably from the moment our son collapsed. The trauma that we faced from then until now is thoroughly incomprehensible to anyone who has not endured it.
“I have been truly horrified as we have learnt more and more detail of the extent of information that was withheld from us by the management at the Countess of Chester.”
The Thirlwall Inquiry has heard that when medical director Ian Harvey met Child C’s mother in February 2017 he was aware at the time that serious concerns had been expressed by consultants that Letby had deliberately harmed babies and that a report had criticised the quality of the care provided to Child C and concluded his death may have been preventable.
She told the inquiry: “To find out now that all the time Ian Harvey met with us in February 2017 he was well aware of both the concerns about Letby and the report of our son’s death did contain criticism is an absolute disgrace.
The inquiry is taking place at Liverpool Town Hall (Peter Byrne/PA)
“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 this. It has affected our grief, compounded our distress and given us a general sense of distrust that we didn’t have before.”
She confirmed to counsel to the inquiry Rachel Langdale KC that she wanted a face-to-face apology from Mr Harvey.
She said: “Yes. I feel very strongly , I felt at the time that we were being misled, that we were being kept in the dark.
“I feel very strongly now that Ian Harvey was desperately trying to stop us from asking further questions by providing a whitewash, a glossover of a report and hoping we would just take his word for it and not ask any more questions.
“I feel we were treated extremely disrespectfully and I think it has added hugely to our distress at what was already a distressing time.”
Letby, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims.
The inquiry is expected to sit until early 2025, with findings published by late autumn of that year.
A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of the surviving and dead children involved in the case.