Thirlwall Inquiry Report Leaves Key Questions on Letby Conviction Unaddressed, Guardian Reports

A public inquiry led by Lady Justice Kathryn Thirlwall into events at the Countess of Chester Hospital and the crimes of former nurse Lucy Letby has not addressed some of the most significant questions surrounding her conviction, the Guardian reported.

According to the report, the inquiry's decision not to pause its proceedings meant that its findings, produced at a cost of £18m, did not engage with concerns that have been raised about the safety of Letby's conviction.

The Guardian noted that, two months before Thirlwall's inquiry opened, a separate report by Chris Henley KC was published examining the wrongful conviction of Andrew Malkinson, who was jailed for rape in a case later found to be a miscarriage of justice.

In that report, Henley called on the legal establishment to acknowledge that criminal courts can produce miscarriages of justice, according to the Guardian. Henley wrote that, up to the level of senior judges in the court of appeal, the justice system exhibits a "deep-seated ... cultural reluctance" to accept that it "will on occasion make mistakes" and that "entirely innocent defendants will sometimes be convicted," the Guardian reported.

The Guardian article draws a parallel between the concerns raised in the Henley report on the Malkinson case and the scope of the Thirlwall inquiry into the Letby case, suggesting that similar questions about wrongful convictions were not fully explored in the latter.