Letby inquiry gets statutory power to compel witnesses to give evidence

The inquiry into how the neonatal nurse Lucy Letby was able to get away with a year long series of murders of babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital is to be a full statutory inquiry with powers to compel witnesses to give evidence, the health and social care secretary for England, Steve Barclay, has announced.

Barclay had initially promised a non-statutory inquiry but agreed to give it full statutory powers after families of Letby’s victims expressed fears that some witnesses might decline to give evidence.

Letby, 33, was sentenced to a whole life term after being found guilty last week of the murder of seven babies and attempting to kill six others between June 2015 and June 2016. Doctors said that they repeatedly tried to alert managers at the Countess of …