'It happened on my watch': Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt apologises to the families of Lucy Letby's victims
9 January 2025, 16:35 | Updated: 9 January 2025, 17:10
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt has apologised to the families of serial child killer Lucy Letby's victims
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Former Conservative Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has apologised to the families of Lucy Letby’s victims.
He told the families he was sorry "for anything that didn't happen that could potentially have prevented such an appalling crime".
Speaking at the Thirlwall Inquiry, which is examining how the former nurse was able to murder babies on a neonatal unit in Chester in 2015 and 2016, Mr Hunt admitted the killings happened on “his watch.”
Lucy Letby, widely considered to be Britain’s most prolific killer of children, is currently serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others between June 2015 and June 2016.
Mr Hunt said while he wasn't responsible for everything “on every ward” in the NHS, he does take some responsibility for Letby’s crimes.
Mr Hunt said: "This terrible tragedy happened on my watch and although I don't bear direct personal responsibility for everything that happens in every ward in the NHS, you do have ultimate responsibility for the NHS.
"And insofar as lessons were not learned from previous inquiries that could have been, or the right systems were not in place that could have prevented this appalling tragedy, then I do bear ultimate responsibility and I want to put on the record my apologies to the families for anything that did not happen that potentially could have prevented such an appalling crime.
"I think one of the things that could have potentially meant that what happened at the Countess of Chester was spotted earlier and the dots were joined up would have been having medical examiners."
He suggested medical examiners should be trained to see the signs or patterns of malicious harm in the work of a healthcare professional and that having "malicious actors" such as Shipman and Letby at the backs of their minds could make a "big difference".
The inquiry heard that a non-statutory rollout of medical examiners in England and Wales began in 2019.
Mr Hunt said: "I think the medical examiner system when it works well is incredibly important to a healthcare system because I think it's not just important for learning from mistakes, it's also very important for families who have been bereaved to have someone independent that they can talk to and raise concerns.
"Feedback from relatives was a very important clue for them as to where things might be going wrong."
It comes as Conservative former minister Sir David Davis has called for Letby to be retried.
The senior Tory said there was no "hard evidence" implicating Letby and the case against her was "built on a poor understanding of probabilities".
He told MPs: "If, as I believe it will, a retrial clears Lucy Letby she shall be released in her 30s, not in her 50s."
Lawyers for Letby last month said they would make a fresh bid to challenge her convictions on the grounds that the lead prosecution medical expert at her trial was "not reliable".
During an adjournment debate in the Commons, Sir David told MPs: "There is case in justice, in my view, for a retrial. But there is a problem. One of the problems we face is that much of the evidence was available at the time.
"What I have described is an expert analysis of the case notes, which were there at the time, but it was simply not presented to the jury.
"This means the Court of Appeal can dismiss it, basically saying the defence should have presented it at the initial trial.
"It is in essence saying, 'if your defence team weren't good enough to present this evidence, hard luck you stay banged up for life'. Now that may be judicially convenient, but it's not justice."
