Call for rethink on inquiry into baby deaths over Letby evidence concerns

A group including some of Britain's leading neonatal experts and professors of statistics is calling on the government to postpone or change the terms of a public inquiry over concerns about the conviction of the neonatal nurse Lucy Letby.

- Felicity Lawrence

In a private letter to ministers, seen by the Guardian, the 24 experts said they were concerned that the inquiry's narrow terms could prevent lessons being learned about "possible negligent deaths that were presumed to be murders" in the neonatal ward of Countess of Chester hospital (CoC).

The public inquiry, led by Lady Justice Thirlwall, was set up last September after Letby was found guilty of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six others at the hospital.

The inquiry was adjourned until after Letby's retrial on a charge on which the original jury had been unable to reach a verdict. That trial, which concluded in July, resulted in her being found guilty of the attempted murder of another baby.

Four judges have refused Letby leave to appeal against the first verdicts; an application on the later verdict is understood to be pending.

Despite the convictions and court of appeal decision, there has been a small but growing number of experts raising concerns about the evidence presented at trial.

Several came forward in an article published by the Guardian in July, expressing concerns that Letby's conviction was unsafe.

Only seven of the 24 signatories of the letter, which was sent last month to the health secretary, Wes Streeting, and the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, are experts who have previously spoken publicly about their concerns.

The other signatories are voicing their concerns formally for the first time. They include Dr Tariq Ali, the former head of the paediatric critical care unit at Oxford university hospitals, and Philip Dawid, an emeritus professor of statistics at the University of Cambridge.