Lucy Letby’s lawyer slams £18million inquiry into baby deaths and says it’s ‘based on wrong premise’

KILLER nurse Lucy Letby’s lawyer has dismissed the inquiry into baby deaths at the hospital where she worked as being on the “wrong premise” of her guilt. Barrister Mark McDonald says the £18million Thirlwall Inquiry has been an error — for not being allowed to examine questions over her conviction. Lucy Letby’s lawyer has dismissed the inquiry into baby deaths at the hospital where she worked Credit: PA Letby was convicted in 2023 of the murder of seven babies and seven counts of attempted murder Credit: Cheshire Constabulary/PA Wire He claimed the findings — due to be published on Tuesday — could end up redundant if his application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission leads to Letby’s bid for freedom returning to the Court of Appeal. Letby, 36, was convicted in 2023 of the murder of seven babies and seven counts of attempted murder from 2015 to 2016 when working at the Countess of Chester Hospital. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Judge Lady Justice Kathryn Thirlwall has been strictly limited in the scope of her inquiry and is looking only at the situation that allowed a killer to operate at the hospital. It has been cleared to go ahead only on the basis of her conviction — despite serious questions since being asked about the reliability of evidence used against her. Mr McDonald said yesterday: “The whole inquiry was based on the wrong premise that Lucy Letby is guilty. “This error will lead to an unreliable report and more importantly recommendations that may soon be redundant. “The Government needs to pause and not waste any further money until the Court of Appeal has had chance to see the substantial international expert evidence which definitely proves Lucy Letby is innocent.” Retired Det Supt Stuart Clifton, who nabbed nurse Beverley Allitt in 1991 for killing four babies, believes Letby has committed no crimes. Most read in The Sun He said in January she was the victim of “the greatest miscarriage of justice of the century”. DEATHS UNIT TORN DOWN The children’s unit at the centre of the Lucy Letby case has been torn down Credit: Dan Charity The neonatal centre at the Countess of Chester Hospital before it was razed by a demolition team Credit: Dan Charity A security officer stands outside the entrance to the Countess of Chester Hospital Credit: Reuters THE children’s unit at the centre of the Lucy Letby case has been torn down. The neonatal centre at the Countess of Chester Hospital was razed by a demolition team — sweeping away the ward where the nurse worked and was later convicted of killing seven newborns. At her trial, sewage leaking into a sink and water infections were blamed as alternative reasons for the spike in deaths. A source said: “Apparently, it was always the plan to destroy it.”