Lucy Letby: Killer nurse to be stripped of NHS pension after baby murders

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) is set to kick off the process to strip Letby of her pension and will look into all measures that prevent it from being paid to her, The Independent understands.

The DHSC pointed to the NHS Pension Scheme Regulations which states that health secretary Steve Barclay has the power to forfeit pensions where a pension scheme member in connection with NHS employment has been convicted of certain offences.

One such offence is an offence in connection with NHS employment, is to be gravely injurious to the State or to be liable to lead to serious loss of confidence in the public service.

Horrified families left asking what drove Letby to commit her appalling crimes as 33 year-old jailed for the rest of her life, Tara Cobham writes:

“It can’t be Lucy – not nice Lucy.”

These were the now-chilling words of a doctor faced with yet another devasting and inexplicable death of a baby on the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital.

But despite her “beige” appearance, it was Lucy Letby behind that and other deaths – a “cruel and calculating” killer of children, hiding in plain sight.

Why do so many of my sister feminists assume that if a woman commits a terrible crime, a man must have made her do it, asks doctor Jessica Taylor. Because of the misogyny that still portrays us as healers and huggers, incapable of violent murder…

The father of a murdered police officer has said a law change following the refusal of Lucy Letby to attend her sentencing hearing may cause “more anguish” for the families of victims.

Letby did not leave her cell on Monday as she was given a whole-life sentence in prison for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murders of six more.

Former prison officer Bryn Hughes, whose daughter PC Nicola Hughes was killed in 2012 alongside fellow PC Fiona Bone in a gun and grenade ambush while on duty in Tameside, Greater Manchester, said calls for a law change are a “knee-jerk reaction”.

Why do so many of my sister feminists assume that if a woman commits a terrible crime, a man must have made her do it, asks doctor Jessica Taylor. Because of the misogyny that still portrays us as healers and huggers, incapable of violent murder.

Horrified families left asking what drove Letby to commit her appalling crimes as 33-year-old jailed for the rest of her life, writes Tara Cobham.

The protection of patients should never be sacrificed to protect the image of a hospital. The NHS is a service, not a business.

NHS managers should be held accountable in the same way that medics are, suggested one of the NHS consultants, Dr Stephen Brearey.

Asked if he would like to see regulation of hospital administrators, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Absolutely. Because doctors and nurses all have their regulatory bodies that we have to answer to.

“And quite often we’ll see senior managers who have no apparent accountability for what they do in our trusts, and they move to other trusts, and you worry about their future actions.

“There doesn’t seem to be any system to make them accountable and for them to justify their actions in a systematic way.”
The government will hold an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Lucy Letby’s crimes to ensure “vital lessons are learned”.

However, Dr Brearey said he would like to see a statutory inquiry.

The reasons why Letby, a neonatal nurse, committed the murders may never be fully understood, although prosecutors and other experts told jurors during her trial of several possible motivations.

Here, The Independent takes a look at some of the main theories discussed in court.

The nursing regulator for the UK has confirmed it is looking into claims against Lucy Letby’s former boss, Alison Kelly.

Ms Kelly, who was director of nursing at the Countess of Chester Hospital before leaving in 2021, has been suspended from her current role, nursing director at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust in Salford, after she was accused of ignoring concerns about Letby.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) said she has now been referred to the fitness to practise process.

Ms Kelly’s referral had been paused pending the outcome of the trial at the request of the police.

The regulator will now investigate and take action if necessary.