Consultant Regrets Not Reporting Letby Sooner

A consultant stated that he “should have had more courage” to express his worries regarding Lucy Letby following an incident where he had to resuscitate an infant girl. Dr. Ravi Jayaram discovered Letby standing over the infant, identified as Child K, whose breathing tube had become dislodged, at the Countess of Chester Hospital in February 2016. The neonatal nurse was subsequently found guilty of attempting to murder Child K. During his testimony to the Thirlwall Inquiry, which is investigating the events surrounding Letby’s offenses, Dr. Jayaram recounted being outside a nursery on the neonatal unit when he realized Letby was alone with the baby. He described feeling “significant discomfort” and chose to enter, even though he believed he was being “irrational and ridiculous.” He stated, “There has been a lot of speculation but I didn’t walk in and see anything.” He continued, “What I walked in and saw was a baby clearly deteriorating, and when I went to assess Baby K the ET (endotracheal tube) was dislodged.” Dr. Jayaram successfully resuscitated Baby K, and he recalled thinking, “How has that happened?” When questioned about his silence regarding the incident at the time, Dr. Jayaram informed the inquiry: “It is something of a mea culpa. Why didn’t I? I lie awake thinking about this.” He further explained, “It’s the fear of not being believed. It’s the fear of ridicule. It’s the fear of accusations of bullying.” He concluded, “I should have been braver and should have had more courage because it was not just an isolated thing. There was already a lot of other information.” He reiterated, “I should have had more courage.” Dr. Jayaram indicated that he first suspected Letby might be inflicting “inadvertent or even deliberate harm” on infants upon his return from leave, following the death of an infant girl, Child I, in October 2015. He remembered discussions in hallways with other consultants concerning Letby’s recurring presence during sudden and unexplained fatalities within the unit. Subsequent to the event involving Child K, Dr. Jayaram stated that concerns about Letby intentionally causing harm had evolved into “an elephant in the room which was becoming bigger and bigger.” He commented, “We felt completely impotent to know how to deal with it.” The inquiry was informed that an external thematic review conducted around that period revealed Letby was on duty at or immediately preceding nine out of 10 deaths on the unit in 2015. Dr. Jayaram remarked, “I naively assumed that the nursing director and the medical director would look at that, see the pattern and act.” He informed the inquiry that he believed the consultants lacked sufficient information to voice their suspicions until the third week of June, at which point he conveyed his concerns to Karen Townsend, the divisional director of urgent care nursing, in a hospital cafe. He stated, “I could have been more forthright. I could have have specifically said ‘You must remove her from the unit’, and I didn’t say that.” Letby subsequently murdered Child P, an infant boy, before her eventual transfer from the neonatal unit to clerical responsibilities in July 2016, following the consultants’ communication of comparable concerns to the hospital’s executive team. Hospital management then chose to conduct several reviews into the heightened mortality rate and did not contact Cheshire Police to initiate an investigation until May 2017. Commencing his testimony, Dr. Jayaram addressed the hearing, stating: “I would like to say to the parents and families of the babies affected by this awful tragedy – I would like to apologise for any personal failings and omissions.” Letby, aged 34, from Hereford, is currently serving 15 whole-life orders, having been convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, including two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016. Information on how to listen to BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram is provided. Story ideas can also be submitted to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk. Copyright for this content is held by BBC, 2024. All rights are reserved. The BBC disclaims responsibility for the content of external websites and provides information on its approach to external linking.