Will this report change the debate about Lucy Letby?published at 11:51 BST

11:51 BST

Judith Moritz
Reporting from Liverpool

The quick take is this: the report won't change the narrative about Lucy Letby's guilt or innocence because it didn't examine that subject at all. That wasn't its remit.

Lady Justice Thirlwall said she had "approached the inquiry on the basis that Lucy Letby is guilty of the crimes of which she has been convicted".

She emphasised that it was not her role "to set about reviewing the convictions", telling the inquiry: "The Court of Appeal has done that, with a very clear result."

But there is also a longer, more complex answer.

Whatever the report's conclusions, Letby's convictions will stand. However, the inquiry hasn't operated in a vacuum. There are other parts of the legal system which will have an eye on its findings.

And the chairwoman of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) - the only organisation with the power to send Letby's case back to the Court of Appeal - has told the BBC the CCRC will be paying close attention to Thirlwall.

Dame Vera Baird said: "We will be looking at the report with interest to assess whether it has any bearing on our review of the case."

The CCRC has given no indication of when it will make its decision.

Lucy Letby's defence lawyer is insisting her case hasn't been undermined after two members of her defence team withdrew on Monday.

The defence team has submitted evidence to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which is reviewing material relating to her convictions, and is not involved in the inquiry.

Helen Shannon and Geoff Chase claimed some of the evidence being put forward on her behalf was inconsistent with the available evidence and science.

Mark McDonald, Lucy Letby's defence lawyer, told the BBC he was "sad that they've gone" but insisted the two experts still believed Lucy Letby was innocent. He said he "fundamentally disagreed" that the case had been undermined.

The CCRC has the power to send Letby's case back to the Court of Appeal and says it is paying close attention to today's report.

Judith Moritz
Reporting from Liverpool

While questions over Letby's convictions weren't within the scope of the Thirlwall Inquiry, it didn't stop the subject making itself felt within the hearing room.

Just as the inquiry was wrapping up, the hospital's former executives applied for it to be delayed until the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has made its decision.

The CCRC is the only organisation with the power to send Letby's case back to the Court of Appeal, and is currently reviewing material relating to Letby’s convictions.

Letters pushing for a delay were also written to the inquiry by Letby's lawyers and Sir David Davis, an MP who has campaigned on her behalf.

Sir David argued that an inquiry "predicated on the presumption that Lucy Letby's conviction is safe, when there is now a wealth of authoritative voices questioning that conviction, will only undermine the conclusions arrived at by your inquiry and potentially lead to more babies dying unnecessarily".

Lady Justice Thirlwall refused the requests to pause the inquiry. She said that she was not scrutinising Letby's actions, but those of the officials and managers who were responsible for responding to the crisis.

The families of babies whom Letby has been convicted of murdering and attempting to murder did not want the inquiry to be paused.

Richard Scorer, who represents three of the families, previously told the BBC that the fact that Letby's convictions still stand is crucial.

"That's the legal reality," he said. "And the noise about her convictions doesn't change that."

Lucy Letby's story has become a culture and information war - as campaign to free her continuespublished at 11:08 BST

11:08 BST

Judith Moritz
Reporting from Liverpool

Image source, Getty Images

This is a case which has rarely been far from the headlines.

At the same time as the inquiry heard its evidence, the Lucy Letby story increasingly became something of a culture and information war – both in the media and online.

Forums, websites and protests emerged among those dedicated to supporting Letby’s cause – and also those on the other side of the debate who firmly believe she’s guilty.

Opinions have become deeply entrenched. Both sides will scrutinise the Thirlwall report – but it’s likely each will find material in it which supports their point of view.

Letby has previously been denied permission to appeal against her convictions on two occasions.

The case has been referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) after a panel of experts assembled by Letby's legal team concluded "there was no medical evidence" to support her convictions.

The Thirlwall Inquiry is not examining nor determining whether Letby is guilty or not guilty.

Instead, it has explored how she was able to kill repeatedly, hearing more than 60 days of witness evidence and reviewing thousands of emails, text messages and handwritten notes.

The objectives of the inquiry are to "seek answers for the victims’ families" as well as examining the response of the NHS and its regulators.

Since its launch, the inquest examined three main areas:

1. The experiences of the Countess of Chester Hospital - where Letby worked - and other relevant NHS services, and all the parents of the babies named in the indictment
2. Employees' conduct at the hospital, including the board, managers, doctors, nurses, and midwives with regard to Letby's actions
3. The effectiveness of NHS management and governance structures and processes, external scrutiny and professional regulation in keeping babies in hospital safe and well looked after

Image source, Reuters

In her first public address when the inquiry began, chairwoman Lady Justice Thirlwall pledged to do "all I can" to meet the expectations of bereaved families.

"The parents of the babies who were murdered or suffered injuries, some life-long, live with the consequences every day," Thirlwall said in November 2023.

"On top of their grievous loss, they endured years of uncertainty about what had caused death or injury. For some, uncertainty remains.

"All have made it plain to me that they want to do all they can to make sure no one else suffers as they do."

The judge said she, with the help of the inquiry team, would "do all I can to make sure that no one else suffers as they have".

Judith Moritz
Reporting from Liverpool

Image source, Pool

The grand ballroom at Liverpool Town Hall, with its parquet floor and chandeliers, is used to hosting weddings and civic functions.

But this morning it is fulfilling a very different purpose – as the venue for the first reading of the Thirlwall Inquiry report.

Groups of lawyers are sitting around banqueting tables, poring over the document which is so large it has been split into three volumes, each running into hundreds of pages.

Also present are parents of some of the babies whom Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering and attempting to murder, as are members of the media, who are sitting separately in another room.

Those who’ve been accredited to read the report have three and half hours to work their way through it before it is made public this afternoon.

Judith Moritz
Reporting from Liverpool

Image source, Pool

Lady Justice Thirlwall is expected to conclude that there were widespread failings in safeguarding at the Countess of Chester hospital.

The starkest question the report could answer is whether any babies might have lived, or avoided injury, if concerns had been acted on sooner.

Should alarm bells have started ringing as early as June 2015, when three babies died in quick succession – the same number of deaths within two weeks that the neonatal unit would normally expect in a year?

What about August 2015, when a baby showed signs of insulin poisoning, but the results of his blood test didn't raise an alert?

Or the first half of 2016, as senior managers were aware of an unusually high death rate on the neonatal unit and that there were concerns about Letby’s presence – but she remained on nursing duty?

What this inquiry won’t deal with is the controversy over Lucy Letby’s convictions. That’s not within its remit, as the chair has herself explained previously.

"It is not the actions of Lucy Letby that I am scrutinising," Thirlwall told the inquiry.

"It is the actions of all those who were in the hospital, what they did at the time, in the light of what they knew at the time, and in the light of what they should have known at the time."

• In July, the BBC's File on 4 Investigates looked at maternity failings at the Countess of Chester Hospital, where Letby worked. Listen to the programme here

Image source, Cheshire Police

This post contains distressing details.

Lucy Letby, 36, is the most prolific child killer in British legal history.

She is serving 15 whole-life prison terms for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others, including one baby whom she tried to murder twice.

Her trial revealed she lived an unremarkable life before her arrest in July 2018.

Letby was present at a series of "unexplained" deaths and sudden collapses of vulnerable babies on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

The list of charges she faced focused on the period between June 2015 and June 2016, when Letby was removed from frontline duties.

Letby deliberately injected babies with air, force fed others milk and poisoned two of the infants with insulin.

In 2023, the then 33-year-old was convicted of seven murders and six attempted murders, with not guilty verdicts on two counts of attempted murder.

The jury was deadlocked on another six counts. After a retrial in July 2024, she was convicted of a further count of attempted murder.

Image source, Reuters

Lucy Letby is serving 15 whole-life prison sentences for the murder of seven babies and for attempting to kill seven others.

But could she have been stopped sooner? And would those babies still be alive if she had been?

These are two of the most stark questions being posed by the Thirlwall Inquiry, which has heard more than 60 days of witness evidence and reviewed thousands of emails, text messages and handwritten notes in attempting to answer them.

Its findings - and recommendations for the future - will be published at 12:30 BST today.

Stay with us for live updates, analysis and reaction.