Lucy Letby boss reveals why she never checked the 'drawer of doom' full of evidence

Disgraced caregiver and kid serial slayer Lucy Letby was recovered blameworthy of aggregate counts of murder, and she is present serving beingness imprisonment with a full beingness order

A nursing manager astatine the infirmary wherever child serial slayer Lucy Letby was employed has shared wherefore she did not cheque implicit the alleged "drawer of doom", containing concerns astir young diligent safety.

Alison Kelly was manager of nursing astatine the Countess of Chester infirmary during the clip erstwhile Letby attacked babies astatine the neonatal portion betwixt June 2015 and June 2016. Letby was moved to an administrative relation successful July 2016 aft advisor paediatricians told Ms Kelly and others that they believed she could beryllium deliberately harming babies.

Despite this, constabulary were not called to analyse until May the pursuing year, aft infirmary bosses opted to committee a bid of reviews into the accrued mortality connected the unit. As she gave grounds connected Monday astatine the Thirlwall Inquiry, Ms Kelly said: "I would similar to explicit my condolences to each the families and I'm truly atrocious for each the distress that the families person experienced implicit the past fewer years, and are presently experiencing arsenic we beryllium present today.

"I didn't get everything right. However the decisions I made were with the champion intentions." She agreed that 1 of the consultants, neonatal objective pb Dr Stephen Brearey, told her successful a May 11, 2016, gathering astir his concerns astir the summation successful deaths but said helium did not notation fears of deliberate harm.

The enquiry antecedently heard Dr Brearey told different enforcement that helium had a alleged "drawer of doom" that was packed with accusation astir Letby. Counsel to the enquiry Nicholas de la Poer KC asked Ms Kelly: "If determination truly was a murderer connected your portion wherefore would the clinicians needfully person seen oregon heard anything? Because specified a idiosyncratic is going to enactment successful a covert was."

Ms Kelly replied: "Yes but erstwhile you person things reported to you arsenic in, ‘we person a gut feeling’, ‘I person a drawer of doom’ - it’s not giving you assurance that you person the accusation that you need." Mr de la Poer said: "You were an enforcement director. If that was troubling you, did you ever accidental to Dr Brearey, I request to spot successful your ‘drawer of doom’? You had the authorization to bash that." Ms Kelly: "I could person done, yes successful conjunction with the aesculapian director."

At different constituent successful the enquiry Ms Kelly said consultants went connected to archer her and elder managers that determination had been a signifier of six retired of 9 deaths occurring astatine nighttime and the signifier stopped erstwhile Letby was moved to days, and that immoderate babies had not responded to resuscitation arsenic expected.

But Ms Kelly said absorption were "balancing that" with the "nursing views of her signifier and however highly regarded she was thought of". She said: "We needed to get much facts, we needed to propulsion much things unneurotic to spot what the fuller representation was astatine the time.

"We had nary existent grounds arsenic successful cipher had seen her bash anything. There was broadbrush statements, determination was nary grounds provided to america astatine that time. "I deliberation we needed to look astatine everything successful the circular successful presumption of objective outcomes arsenic good arsenic looking astatine 1 individual.

"I didn't instrumentality the hearsay of consultants arsenic grounds astatine the time." Ms Kelly denied she had not taken the concerns "seriously enough".

Counsel to the enquiry Nicholas de la Poer KC asked: "Do you deliberation determination is immoderate anticipation that things had go truthful acrimonious with doctors versus nurses and with you backing the nurses, that a civilization of fearfulness had developed?" Ms Kelly said: "I would not accidental a civilization of fear. I deliberation determination were challenges with the relationships, I deliberation the spot had breached down and I deliberation connected reflection we could person done much to enactment the clinicians, surely successful a pastoral perspective.

"There was tons of engagement, it was conscionable tense astatine times which is wherefore we gained proposal from outer agencies and the constabulary eventually." She said: "It became divisive betwixt the nurses and the doctors, and that's not conducive to bully working."

She agreed it was "not unheard of" for a caregiver to deliberately harm patients, but said that was "not successful the forefront of my mind". Ms Kelly went on: "I deliberation astatine the clip I was relying connected my elder nursing squad to springiness maine assurances connected Letby, peculiarly Eirian Powell (unit ward manager) who knew her best. I would not cognize idiosyncratic nurses connected an idiosyncratic basis."

She said the consultants were inactive not expressing intelligibly wherefore they thought Letby was murdering babies, which she recovered "quite frustrating". Explaining wherefore constabulary were not called successful by the infirmary to analyse successful the summertime of 2016, she said: "I deliberation we had a wide speech astir the information that we each personally needed to cognize and recognize what was really going connected successful our organisation truthful that we could intelligibly articulate to the constabulary what the problems were.

"At the time, we didn't truly person a consciousness of what was going on." Letby, 34, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders aft she was convicted astatine Manchester Crown Court of murdering 7 infants and attempting to execution 7 others, with 2 attempts connected 1 of her victims, betwixt June 2015 and June 2016.

The inquiry, sitting astatine Liverpool Town Hall earlier Lady Justice Thirlwall, is expected to beryllium until aboriginal 2025, with findings published by precocious autumn of that year.