Lucy Letby news: NHS whistleblower hits out at failings after concerns about killer nurse ignored

Why do so many of my sister feminists assume that if a woman commits a terrible crime, a man must have made her do it, asks doctor Jessica Taylor. Because of the misogyny that still portrays us as healers and huggers, incapable of violent murder…

The father of a murdered police officer has said a law change following the refusal of Lucy Letby to attend her sentencing hearing may cause “more anguish” for the families of victims.

Letby did not leave her cell on Monday as she was given a whole-life sentence in prison for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murders of six more.

Former prison officer Bryn Hughes, whose daughter PC Nicola Hughes was killed in 2012 alongside fellow PC Fiona Bone in a gun and grenade ambush while on duty in Tameside, Greater Manchester, said calls for a law change are a “knee-jerk reaction”.

Why do so many of my sister feminists assume that if a woman commits a terrible crime, a man must have made her do it, asks doctor Jessica Taylor. Because of the misogyny that still portrays us as healers and huggers, incapable of violent murder.

Horrified families left asking what drove Letby to commit her appalling crimes as 33-year-old jailed for the rest of her life, writes Tara Cobham.

The protection of patients should never be sacrificed to protect the image of a hospital. The NHS is a service, not a business.

NHS managers should be held accountable in the same way that medics are, suggested one of the NHS consultants, Dr Stephen Brearey.

Asked if he would like to see regulation of hospital administrators, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Absolutely. Because doctors and nurses all have their regulatory bodies that we have to answer to.

“And quite often we’ll see senior managers who have no apparent accountability for what they do in our trusts, and they move to other trusts, and you worry about their future actions.

“There doesn’t seem to be any system to make them accountable and for them to justify their actions in a systematic way.”
The government will hold an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Lucy Letby’s crimes to ensure “vital lessons are learned”.

However, Dr Brearey said he would like to see a statutory inquiry.

The reasons why Letby, a neonatal nurse, committed the murders may never be fully understood, although prosecutors and other experts told jurors during her trial of several possible motivations.

Here, The Independent takes a look at some of the main theories discussed in court.

The nursing regulator for the UK has confirmed it is looking into claims against Lucy Letby’s former boss, Alison Kelly.

Ms Kelly, who was director of nursing at the Countess of Chester Hospital before leaving in 2021, has been suspended from her current role, nursing director at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust in Salford, after she was accused of ignoring concerns about Letby.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) said she has now been referred to the fitness to practise process.

Ms Kelly’s referral had been paused pending the outcome of the trial at the request of the police.

The regulator will now investigate and take action if necessary.

The crimes of child serial killer Lucy Letby will be examined in a public inquiry.

The Government ordered a probe after the nurse was last week found guilty of murdering seven babies and trying to murder six more.

It will investigate the events on the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit between 2015 and 2016 to ensure “vital lessons are learned”, ministers said.

But concerns have been raised over the decision not to put the probe on a statutory footing, with pressure growing on the Government to strengthen it.

Read the full report below.

While many people might be asking specific, searching questions about why nurse Lucy Letby murdered so many babies in her care, as a feminist and psychologist I am struck by the way misogyny and gender roles mean that we struggle to see women as violent or abusive at all.

I am a firm believer that everything we do is a choice. Everything from whether we put the shopping trolley back where it belongs – to whether we harm, abuse, even kill another human being.

We all make choices every moment of every day.

But what happens when the same misogyny which harms women every day also positions them as incapable of committing violent acts, abuses – even murders?