Dad refused to hand over dying son to killer nurse Lucy Letby who 'savoured son’s dying moments'
17 September 2024, 08:26
The parents of a baby murdered by serial killer Lucy Letby have told how the nurse attempted to "savour their son's dying moments for herself".
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The fresh claims come amid the ongoing public inquiry into how the killer nurse continued to practice at the Countess of Chester Hospital - despite concerns being flagged to hospital bosses.
The parents of Letby's third victim, Child C, emotionally recounted how they hugged their dying son after being told that he could not be saved.
The child's father told the inquiry: "Reflecting on it now, I think she [Letby] was trying to savour my son’s dying moments for herself, which fills me with both emotion and anger, had I not challenged her she would have further intruded on our private goodbye."
The parents told the inquiry that they had been "kept her in the dark" when it came to their child's death - most notably by the hospital's medical director.
It comes as the mother of Child C, murdered by Letby, demanded a face-to-face apology from the hospital medical director.
Letby is currently serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others.
The former nurse was accused of forcing air down a feeding tube and into the stomach of Child C - who died in June 2015.
The child passed away days after another fatal attack on the same neonatal unit, with his father describing how he and his wife went through 5 hours of agony as they said goodbye to their baby boy.
Speaking as part of the public inquiry into events at the hospital, the mother said the first she knew of someone being linked to Child C's death was when Cheshire Police phoned the family in the early hours of July 2018.
Child C's mother said she was not even aware that another infant had died the same week until the start of the criminal trial that followed.
She said her family had "endured years of anxiety and stress" from the initial arrest of Letby to her convictions.
She told the inquiry: "The events of that night and everything that has happened since have left an indelible mark upon us which will stay with us for the rest of our lives.
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"We had suffered immeasurably from the moment our son collapsed.
"The trauma that we faced from then until now is thoroughly incomprehensible to anyone who has not endured it.
"I have been truly horrified as we have learnt more and more detail of the extent of information that was withheld from us by the management at the Countess of Chester
Inquiry into Lucy Letby baby deaths case begins
The Thirlwall Inquiry has heard that when medical director Ian Harvey met Child C's mother in February 2017 he was aware at the time that serious concerns had been expressed by consultants that Letby had deliberately harmed babies and that a report had criticised the quality of the care provided to Child C and concluded his death may have been preventable.
She told the inquiry: "To find out now that all the time Ian Harvey met with us in February 2017 he was well aware of both the concerns about Letby and the report of our son's death did contain criticism is an absolute disgrace.
"I cannot understand this at all from the perspective of a medic or in fact any human level whatsoever.
"We continue to feel thoroughly betrayed this.
"It has affected our grief, compounded our distress and given us a general sense of distrust that we didn't have before."
She confirmed to counsel to the inquiry Rachel Langdale KC that she wanted a face-to-face apology from Mr Harvey.
She said: "Yes. I feel very strongly , I felt at the time that we were being misled, that we were being kept in the dark.
"I feel very strongly now that Ian Harvey was desperately trying to stop us from asking further questions by providing a whitewash, a glossover of a report and hoping we would just take his word for it and not ask any more questions.
"I feel we were treated extremely disrespectfully and I think it has added hugely to our distress at what was already a distressing time."
Letby, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims.
The inquiry is expected to sit until early 2025, with findings published by late autumn of that year.
A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of the surviving and dead children involved in the case.
