An expert lobbying for Lucy Letby’s release was in charge of the professional body that carried out a flawed review into the neo-natal unit where the nurse murdered babies.
Professor Neena Modi was present on Tuesday when it was claimed ‘new’ evidence proved no infants were killed and that Letby had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
But yesterday it emerged Professor Modi was president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) from 2015 to 2018 during which time hospital bosses at the Countess of Chester Hospital asked the organisation for help instead of calling in police.
The public inquiry into Letby’s crimes has heard that the RCPCH should never have agreed to carry out the review, in September 2016, once they learned about the suspicions of doctors.
A redacted version of its report – which omitted references to Letby and instead flagged up staffing shortages, problems with the transfer of babies to other hospitals and other issues – was used by hospital managers to exonerate Letby, discredit doctors, mislead parents and delay the police probe.
The RCPCH, at the Thirlwall Inquiry, accepted the review ‘contributed to uncertainty and lack of clarity that bedevilled the response’ to the spike in deaths.
Fiona Scolding KC, for the RCPCH, also apologised to doctors who tried to blow the whistle on Letby for failing to ‘sufficiently support’ them and acknowledged the ‘stress and damage’ caused.
Yesterday a source claimed Professor Modi was not a ‘disinterested party’ in the Letby case.
Professor Neena Modi (pictured) was president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) from 2015 to 2018
Body worn camera footage issued by Cheshire Constabulary of the arrest of Lucy Letby
Former neonatal nurse Lucy Letby is serving 15 whole life sentences for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others
It is alleged she has a ‘personal interest’ in suggesting poor medical care, and not the convicted killer nurse, was responsible for the baby deaths because ‘she was in charge of the RCPCH when it conducted the discredited review’.
The source added: ‘It was the tool which delayed the police being called in and was also used to bully the paediatricians into apologising to Letby and to try to justify her return to work.’
E-mails on the inquiry site reveal Professor Modi was in contact with doctors at the Countess in 2018 after the start of the police investigation.
She failed on Tuesday to mention this, or that she was at the helm of the RCPCH at the time of Letby’s crimes, and instead insisted she was there in a ‘personal’ capacity.
Canadian Dr Shoo Lee, whose 1989 research paper on air embolism featured prominently at Letby’s original trial, said evidence compiled by 14 experts concluded all the babies had died or collapsed ‘due to natural causes or bad medical care’.
He added: ‘We did not find any murders.’
The RCPCH has said it ‘does not hold a position’ over Letby’s convictions. Professor Modi was contacted for comment.
