Scandalous rumours about Lucy Letby's love life 'swept through ward where baby killer nurse worked'

A nationalist enquiry heard that determination were 'lots of rumours' circulating astir the ward wherever slayer caregiver Lucy Letby worked astatine the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit

Scandalous rumours astir Lucy Letby's emotion beingness swept done the ward wherever the babe slayer caregiver worked, a public inquiry has been told.

The enquiry heard that "lots of rumours" started going astir arsenic Letby was removed from the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal portion successful July 2016 aft a bid of abrupt and unexplained deaths and collapses of babies. One of these rumours was that Letby rejected the advances of a advisor who "made it wide helium had an involvement successful her."

Letby was redeployed to clerical duties aft each 7 paediatric consultants told hospital bosses they feared she was deliberately harming infants. The caregiver complained to the wellness spot astir her removal and a grievance proceeding aboriginal concluded nary grounds of immoderate wrongdoing had been provided.

Letby ne'er returned to her duties successful the neonatal portion but remained employed astatine the infirmary until she was arrested successful July 2018, much than a twelvemonth aft Cheshire Police were yet called successful to investigate. The autarkic chairwoman of the grievance hearing, which took spot successful December 2016, aboriginal told Cheshire Police she felt astatine the clip that Letby was the unfortunate of a "witch hunt".

Annette Weatherley told police: "The consultants are doing their ain benignant of probe immoderate it was they were doing, whether they liked oregon disliked her, determination were tons of rumours around. They decided it was her, she was the babe killer. They were openly talking astir her arsenic the babe killer. They went to the spot and they said 'she is the babe killer, we don't privation her connected the unit'."

One of the rumours Ms Weatherley outlined was the advances made to Letby by a consultant, the Thirlwall Inquiry into the events surrounding the slayer nurse's crimes was told. Ms Weatherley told detectives: "I can't retrieve who said it but determination was a rumour… a advisor had made it wide helium had an involvement successful her and she had rebuffed it."

The serviceman asked: "What, physically?" Ms Weatherley replied: "Yes physically. It was idiosyncratic that told maine that, I can't retrieve who it was erstwhile I was determination but determination was a rumour."

The enquiry has heard antecedently that Letby denied to a nursing manager that either neonatal objective pb Dr Stephen Brearey oregon children's services pb Dr Ravi Jayaram had ever made a walk astatine her. Karen Rees, the past caput of nursing successful urgent care, said she had queried whether determination was a "personal motive" to the concerns expressed astir Letby by some consultants.

She said: "I asked her if either of them had ever made a walk astatine her. She replied 'absolutely not'." 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 enquiry is expected to beryllium until aboriginal 2025, with findings published by precocious autumn of that year.