Lucy Letby has called for the public inquiry into her crimes to be halted, arguing there is now “overwhelming and compelling” evidence undermining her baby murder convictions.
Lawyers for the former nurse took the extraordinary step of writing to Lady Justice Thirlwall on Monday to say that the inquiry – which is due to end on Wednesday – should be suspended immediately.
In a letter seen by the Guardian, they said the judge’s final report would “not only be redundant but likely unreliable” unless it was paused until the conclusion of a review of her convictions.
They added: “It is estimated that over £10m has been spent so far on the inquiry. It is now clear there is overwhelming and compelling evidence that Lucy Letby’s convictions are unsafe.
“For the inquiry to be effective and that taxpayer’s money not to be wasted, we urge that the inquiry be suspended and to wait for the outcome of the review to take place.”
Letby, 35, is serving 15 whole-life prison terms after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill another seven at the Countess of Chester hospital in north-west England.
The former nurse, who has always protested her innocence, has lost two attempts to overturn her convictions at the court of appeal.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, is examining fresh material submitted by a range of experts on behalf of Letby last month.
Barristers for NHS England and the Countess of Chester hospital said any decision to postpone the inquiry was primarily for the health secretary, Wes Streeting, to take in consultation with Thirlwall as the inquiry chair.
Andrew Kennedy KC, representing the Countess of Chester hospital, urged the judge not to pause her work because it would delay changes that were “desperately needed”.
Separately, lawyers for a series of organisations expressed regret over their handling of the Letby case.
The Care Quality Commission, a health watchdog, and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the nurses’ regulator, both said they should have shown greater “professional curiosity” when they became involved in 2016.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said its review of the neonatal unit on behalf of the hospital executive was “singularly inapposite and wrong” and “should never have taken place” given the serious allegations against Letby at the time.
In its closing submissions, the Department of Health and Social Care made an “unequivocal” apology to the bereaved families and said it bore “ultimate responsibility” for failings.
Neil Sheldon KC, for the department, said ministers were determined to learn the lessons from this inquiry, admitting that there had been a “failure to learn from past incidents”.
Lawyers for Letby said 16 specialists from seven countries had compiled “by far the largest forensic expert neonatal review ever undertaken”.
The conclusion of this, they added, was that there was “no evidence of harmful acts” but that there were “a litany of errors by the treating clinicians”.
They said the expert reports provided a “compelling alternative explanation” for each of the deaths and non-fatal collapses and “heavily criticise” the medical care by those working on the neonatal unit.
Letby’s legal team said it would submit all of this evidence to the CCRC this week and would meet commissioners in the near future.
They said it was “likely that the CCRC will not take long” to consider the material before referring the case back to the court of appeal, which it can do if it believes there is a “real possibility” that the convictions could be quashed.
The letter added: “If, given the overwhelming evidence that the convictions are unsafe, they are overturned, then any report produced by the inquiry will be based on the wrong premise.
“This error will pollute the very nature of the report and any conclusions or indeed recommendations will be of little value.
“In short, it will defeat the purpose of a public inquiry, to fully and fearlessly understand the circumstances in which the babies died or became unwell.”
The calls for the inquiry to be paused came days after Cheshire constabulary said it was investigating other hospital staff in connection with gross negligence manslaughter over the deaths. The force said at the time that this inquiry would not “impact on the convictions of Lucy Letby for multiple offences of murder and attempted murder”.
Detectives are also investigating deaths and non-fatal collapses of other babies on the neonatal units of the Countess of Chester and Liverpool women’s hospital between 2012 and 2016.
The Thirlwall inquiry has been examining the circumstances surrounding the deaths and near-deaths since September last year, with a final report due later this year.
Thirlwall said on Monday that she had also received a request on behalf of former executives at the Countess of Chester – including the former chief executive Tony Chambers and the ex-medical director Ian Harvey – to pause the inquiry.
The inquiry, sitting at Liverpool town hall, is due to hear from the barrister representing the executives later this week.
