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Letby Inquiry a 'Grim Read', Says Countess of Chester Doctor

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Dr John Gibbs says the Thirlwall Inquiry into Lucy Letby's murders is grim reading and accepts consultants share blame for failing to alert police sooner.

A senior doctor who tried to warn managers about Lucy Letby has said the final report of the Thirlwall Inquiry makes for "grim reading" and that hospital consultants share the blame for not going to police sooner. Dr John Gibbs, a consultant paediatrician at the Countess of Chester Hospital, gave his reaction to the BBC in Liverpool.

Gibbs worked on the neonatal unit throughout 2015 and 2016, the period when Letby murdered seven babies and tried to murder seven more. The 822-page report, written by Lady Justice Thirlwall and published on Tuesday, described "a complete failure to protect babies" on the unit and said police should have been told earlier than they were.

The inquiry was set up after Letby, a former nurse, was convicted in 2023. Its findings state that hospital managers repeatedly brushed aside the concerns raised by doctors, and that executives had several chances to act while babies were still dying.

Gibbs told the BBC he accepted a "collective" responsibility for some of the failings. "I wish we consultants had been brave enough to follow our suspicions and escalate things to the police earlier," he said. He added that he counted himself among those at fault: if his colleagues did not contact police, then he should have done so himself.

The consultant, who joined the Chester hospital in 1994 and has since retired, said reading the document was never going to be easy. "I'd imagine it's an extremely difficult read for the parents of the babies concerned," he said. Recalling his own evidence to the inquiry, he repeated that the team had failed the babies and offered an apology to the bereaved families.

Gibbs agreed with the report's conclusion that hospital bosses missed multiple opportunities that might have saved lives. He described the atmosphere in the 11 months after Letby was taken off the unit but before police were called as tense and highly stressful. During that time, he said, managers "were determined to ensure that we accepted Lucy Letby had been wrongly suspected of doing any harm."

He also pointed to a specific clinical failure. In August 2015, blood test results indicated that a baby had been poisoned with insulin, but a doctor set them aside. Gibbs said one colleague missed the significance of the lab findings, yet he framed it as a shared error. Other doctors, including himself, covered the unit in the following weeks and had the chance to read the same notes before the baby was moved elsewhere.

Letby is serving 15 whole-life terms for the murders and attempted murders. She has twice been refused permission to appeal against her convictions. The Criminal Cases Review Commission, the independent body that investigates possible miscarriages of justice, is currently examining her case.

Since her conviction, the case has drawn public questions, including online conspiracy theories as well as challenges from academics and medical experts. Gibbs said he hoped the inquiry's recommendations would help stop similar deaths from happening again.

Thirlwall Inquiry, Lucy Letby, Countess of Chester Hospital, Dr John Gibbs, neonatal unit deaths, Lady Justice Thirlwall, NHS baby murders, hospital managers failings

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