Closing summary
We’re closing this live blog down now. Here’s a summary of the day’s main events:
The neonatal nurse Lucy Letby has been convicted of the murders of seven babies in her ward, as well as seven counts of attempted murder. The offences all occurred between June 2015 and June 2016 and the attempted murder convictions related to six children – two of the charges reflecting two attempts to murder the same child.
Families of victims expressed their “extreme hurt, anger and distress”. They said: “To lose a baby is a heartbreaking experience that no parent should ever have to go through. But to lose a baby or to have a baby harmed in these particular circumstances is unimaginable.”
Ministers announced an independent inquiry into how Letby was able to carry out so many attacks before she was reported to police. The inquiry, announced by the health secretary, Steve Barclay, will be independent from the NHS and government and involve input from families, but it will not be a formal statutory inquiry, under which witnesses can be compelled to give evidence.
Babies would have survived if hospital executives had acted earlier on concerns about the nurse Lucy Letby, a senior doctor who raised the alarm said. In an exclusive Guardian interview, Dr Stephen Brearey accused the Countess of Chester hospital trust of being “negligent” and failing to properly address concerns he and other doctors raised about Letby as she carried out her killings.
You can read the full report by my colleague Josh Halliday here:
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Government orders inquiry
Ministers have announced an independent inquiry into how Letby was able to murder seven babies and attempt to kill six others before she was reported to police.
The inquiry, announced by the health secretary, Steve Barclay, will be independent from the NHS and the government and involve input from families, but it will not be a formal statutory inquiry, under which witnesses can be compelled to give evidence.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it had been decided that a non-statutory independent inquiry was the best option, in part so lessons could be learned more quickly.
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