Case of Grantham killer nurse Beverley Allitt was part of Lucy Letby’s training, inquiry told

The case of serial killer Beverley Allitt formed part of nurse Lucy Letby’s training, a public inquiry has heard.

The Thirlwall Inquiry, which will probe how Letby was able to attack babies on the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neo-natal unit in 2015 and 2016, opened on Tuesday with a statement which referenced nurse Allitt, who attacked children at the Grantham and Kesteven Hospital, Lincolnshire, in 1991, and killer GP Harold Shipman.

Allitt killed four children and tried to murder another nine in 1991. She was committed to Rampton Security Hospital where she reamains.

Chairwoman Lady Justice Thirlwall said the inquiry would not examine Letby’s convictions, saying an “outpouring of comment” on their validity had “caused enormous additional distress to the parents”.

The 34-year-old, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims.

In her opening statement at Liverpool Town Hall, counsel to the inquiry Rachel Langdale KC said the Clothier Inquiry had been carried out following the crimes of Allitt, who was convicted of four counts of murder, three of attempted murder, and a further six of grievous bodily harm on children.

She said: “Nevertheless, and distressingly, 25 years later another nurse working in another hospital killed and harmed babies in her care.”

Ms Langdale said the inquiry would hear from a senior lecturer in the child nursing programme at the University of Chester, where Letby qualified in 2011, who said the case of Allitt formed part of student training and learning.

She said the motive for Letby’s crimes would not be examined during the hearings, and referenced an inquiry into the crimes of Shipman, thought to have murdered hundreds of his patients, which “shed very little light” on why he carried out the killings.

She said: “For ordinary, decent, right-thinking people, the actions of Letby will remain unfathomable. We will not be inviting speculation from witnesses about her motive or mindset.”