Lucy Letby: Families of victims call for greater powers in inquiry

Families of some of the babies attacked by Lucy Letby have said the inquiry into the case should have powers to compel witnesses to come forward.

An independent inquiry was ordered on Friday after the nurse's conviction for the crimes at a hospital in Chester.

But lawyers for two of the families said this inquiry does not go far enough and needs to be statutory to have "real teeth".

The government said the inquiry aimed to ensure lessons were learned.

Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015-16, following a 10-month trial.

She was found not guilty on two attempted murders and the jury could not reach verdicts on six others. She will be sentenced on Monday.

Separately an inquiry will now look into the circumstances surrounding the events leading up to the murders and attempted murders of the babies by the neonatal nurse.

The announcement of the non-statutory inquiry has divided opinion on how effective it will be in examining the case.

Slater and Gordon, the law firm representing two of the families, said a non-statutory inquiry "is not good enough" and lessons had to be learned by the hospital, NHS and wider medical profession.

"As a non-statutory inquiry, it does not have the power to compel witnesses to provide evidence or production of documents and must rely on the goodwill of those involved to share their testimony," the firm said in a statement.

Labour's City of Chester MP Samantha Dixon told the BBC a judge should lead the inquiry, also highlighting how that as it stood the inquiry would rely on "the goodwill of witnesses to attend".

In contrast Conservative MP, Dr Caroline Johnson, said she agreed with the current approach.

Dr Johnson, a consultant paediatrician and MP who sits on the health select committee, said lessons needed to be learned quickly and the government could decide to order a statutory inquiry at a later date if extra powers were needed.

"I appreciate that people can't be compelled in quite the same way, I would hope that people would still nevertheless come forward," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Dr Bill Kirkup, who has led non-statutory reviews for other maternity units, said non-compliance had not been a problem in his experience and people were "ready and willing to cooperate".

The patient safety investigator told the BBC he had identified common features between the Letby case and the reviews he had conducted - including managers accused of "protecting reputations" above listening to staff concerns.

After the verdict, Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said it was "extremely sorry" the crimes happened in its hospital and it had since made "significant changes" to their services.

Former chief executive of the hospital Tony Chambers and former medical director Ian Harvey, who were in charge at the time Letby was working at the hospital, have said they will co-operate fully with the inquiry.

If you, or someone you know, have been affected by the issues raised here, there are details of organisations that may be able to offer support on the BBC Action Line.