All requests for interviews and further information should be directed to Scala
Tamlin Bolton, a Senior Associate Solicitor at Switalskis is a specialist medical negligence lawyer who is representing the families of 7 babies who were victims of Lucy Letby, the neonatal nurse who worked at The Countess of Chester NHS Hospital Trust was found guilty on Friday 18th August 2023 of 7 murders and 6 attempted murders of babies she nursed at the Countess of Chester Hospital. She was later sentenced to life imprisonment for each offence on 21 August 2023. During the criminal trial, the jury were unable to reach a verdict on 6 of the charges brought against her, leaving these families with unanswered questions as to whether the harm that their children suffered was inflicted deliberately.
Following the conviction of Lucy Letby, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) began considering whether there was sufficient evidence to retry Lucy Letby for the charges where a verdict could not be reached.
Today the CPS have decided that they will seek only one retrial concerning an alleged attempted murder of a baby.
At Switalskis, we are disappointed with the CPS decision to not proceed with a retrial on all of the cases. We believe that the families of the further alleged victims still have questions that are unanswered, and they deserve to know what happened to their children.
On the back of the CPS decision those families will need to pursue other channels to get the answers, through both a civil case against the Trust, and to be included as part of the Inquiry now that the criminal route to answers has been closed.
To help them understand what happened to their children, we will need to explore a number of issues, including: aspects of the governance at the Trust; management and systems in place; how the unit was managing staffing levels and coping with the babies they cared for; availability of equipment and the unit being in disrepair; and the general risks that premature babies can suffer from.
We continue to work with the families as we begin to guide them through the public inquiry, which we hope will bring further clarity on what happened to allow these crimes to be committed. In particular, the failure of the Trust’s managers to listen and act upon the concerns that were made to them about Letby.
We reach out and invite anyone who may have been impacted by the care received at the Countess of Chester Hospital and/or Liverpool women’s hospital to get in touch for further advice and support. We are here for you.
For further information about this release or to request interviews please contact Natalie Rodgers, Marketing Director: natalierodgers@scala.uk.com / 0114 4070159/ 07881 780608
