Thirlwall Inquiry should be livestreamed, say victims’ families

The Thirlwall Inquiry will investigate how Letby was able to murder and harm multiple babies, and examine the wider NHS culture and effectiveness of management.

“Staff working at the hospital are public servants, they have a moral obligation to give a true and complete account”

Peter Skelton

It will officially begin on Tuesday, 10 September at Liverpool Town Hall and is expected to sit every week from Monday to Thursday until the end of the year.

The inquiry was set up after Letby was given a whole-life sentence last year for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others while she worked as a neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust between June 2015 and June 2016.

A preliminary hearing for the inquiry was held today, chaired by Lady Justice Thirlwall, where lawyers representing families, the Countess of Chester Hospital and the media put forward submissions on whether the hearings should be publicly broadcast.

Peter Skelton KC, representing the families of six babies, said Letby’s murders and attempted murders were “some of the most heinous and heartrending crimes” ever seen in the UK.

As such, he argued that the public “need to see and hear directly from staff”, including nurses and doctors, to understand “how and why thee appalling events have happened”.

Mr Skelton noted the “grossly offensive” conspiracy theories surrounding the Letby case which he said “sprout, spread and fester on social media”.

He said: “One of the most effective antidotes to those theories and the damage they cause will be to see and to hear the people involved in the hospital give a true and comprehensive account of the facts.

“Written archive of evidence is simply not good enough.”

All children and parents involved in the Letby case have been granted anonymity through a strict reporting restriction to protect their identifies. As such, all babies involved are referred to as children A to Q.

Mr Skelton said the families of child A, B, I, L, M, N and Q “strongly submit that the default position should be to have a delayed public broadcast”, which means the livestream will be 15 minutes behind the real-life proceedings.

He said: “Staff working at the hospital are public servants, they have a moral obligation to give a true and complete account.”

He noted that the Thirlwall Inquiry was a statutory public inquiry meaning hospital staff who have been called to give evidence “have a legal obligation to tell [the] complete unvarnished truth about what happened”.

Richard Baker KC, also representing the families of six children, said they had “all suffered unimaginable harm in unimaginable circumstances”.

He noted the importance of the public being able to access the hearing, arguing that in the modern day it had “become the norm for inquiries to be broadcast”, including the inquiries into the Manchester Arena attacks and the Undercover Policing Inquiry.

Mr Baker argued that, by not livestreaming the hearings, it could lead to “increased speculation” around the crimes.

He added that this could “hand a message to conspiracy theorists that there is something different about this case and there is something to be hidden”.

Meanwhile, Andrew Kennedy KC, representing the Countess of Chester Hospital, said the organisation expressed “profound sorrow and regret” for the events which had triggered the inquiry to take place.

He aruged for any livestream to be “short of live streaming worldwide”.

He reiterated the hospital’s determination to provide “as much assistance as we can” so the inquiry could achieve its objectives set out in its terms of reference.

Mr Kennedy said the hospital was aware of “high level of anxiety” among staff about having to give evidence which could be broadcast across the world.

He added that the desire was for witnesses to be able to speak with “frankness and openness”.

Lady Justice Thirlwall said she would announce her decision on whether the hearings will be livestreamed “in due course”.