Devendra Kumar
Lucy Letby, a 33-year-old nurse, has been found unfit to practise at a UK Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing, despite maintaining her innocence regarding her convictions. Letby was previously convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit where she worked between 2015 and 2016. The fitness to practise panel concluded that Letby’s crimes had caused harm to patients, brought the profession into disrepute, and breached fundamental tenets of the profession.
The panel’s decision came after submissions from Christopher Scott, representing the Nursing and Midwifery Council, who argued that the harm caused by Letby was egregious and that her lack of insight and remorse necessitated the finding of impairment. Scott quoted the sentencing remarks of Mr. Justice Goss, who described Letby’s actions as a “cruel, calculated, and cynical campaign of child murder” driven by a “deep malevolence bordering on sadism” for which Letby showed no remorse.
The panel’s next step is to decide whether to strike Letby from the nursing register, a move which she does not resist despite her protestations of innocence. According to Scott, the Nursing and Midwifery Council believes that Letby’s convictions are so serious that they require a striking off order. The barrister requested that the panel disregard lesser sanctions and maintain public confidence by imposing a more severe penalty.
Letby’s defence is that she accepts the facts of her convictions but maintains her innocence regarding the allegations. She was not present at the hearing, having been told of it but choosing not to attend, and was not represented. Instead, she participated in a “tick-box exercise” in which she accepted each of the charges, but added that she did not wish to take part in the hearing or be present. Letby’s absence from the hearing did not deter the panel from proceeding, and her appeal for one count of attempted murder is scheduled for next June.
The findings of the fitness to practise panel follow Letby’s criminal convictions, for which she received 14 whole-life orders. Her crimes occurred on the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit, where she worked between June 2015 and June 2016. The severity of Letby’s crimes has led to the Nursing and Midwifery Council seeking to strike her from the nursing register, a decision that is set to be made in the coming weeks.