Doctor who shared 'frivolous' texts with Lucy Letby haunted daily by 'mistake'

The Thirlwall Inquiry, examining events at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit where Lucy Letby worked, has heard from one of her 'regretful' colleagues

A doctor who guided Lucy Letby during her campaign of terror has expressed his 'regret' after exchanging over 1,000 messages with the serial killer.

The former NHS nurse, 34, became Britain's most prolific child killer in August 2023 when she was convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to kill six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016. In July, Letby was handed her 15th whole-life term for the attempted murder of a premature baby girl.

During a public inquiry led by Lady Justice Thirlwall at Liverpool town hall on Monday, one then-junior doctor - who gave Letby support at work - said the ex-nurse "misled and maybe manipulated" him into giving her information about the neonatal babies she had attacked during her killing spree.

The man, referred to as Doctor U, exchanged 1,355 Facebook messages with Letby over the course of the three months they worked together between June 2016 and September 2016, the inquiry heard on Monday. The medic, whose identity has been protected for legal reasons, frequently "reassured" Letby over her care of three infants.

The babies include a boy Letby attempted to murder and two brothers from a set of triplets who she murdered. Dr U went on to support her grievance case against her removal from the neonatal unit to non-patient duties from July 2016. But now, he feels that sharing information with her may have been a "mistake" - which still haunts him to this day.

When asked by Rachel Langdale KC how it felt when Letby reached out needing information about the babies and how they might have died, Dr U replied: "It felt like a supportive gesture. That now feels like a mistake. It is something I have considered on a daily basis for the last six to eight years."

He went on: "I think I have become aware that I was not aware of the full clinical picture and I provided support by being misled and maybe manipulated, and for that I'm really sorry that things have come to an end as they have. I have a lot of regrets over how that period of time took place."

Dr U told the inquiry he did not suspect deliberate harm had been caused to Child O and P. He also said the Facebook messages between himself and Letby spanned from "quite frivolous casual conversation" to "entirely inappropriate" discussions about newborn patients.

"Letby was struggling with her mental health and I think I picked up on that and offered some support, and that support grew, and I understood that she slept very, very poorly because of worry and anxiety," he said. "There were often messages that were passed throughout the day and sometimes later at night and early in the morning."

The nature of one message was read out at the inquiry, which involved Letby inquiring about the condition of Child N - an infant she attempted to murder in early June 2016 - and whether or not she had done anything wrong. Dr U replied: "Oh Lucy, poor little thing. I am sure he has had the best care possible and you will have done everything you could for him."

In another message, after Letby was removed from the neonatal unit in July 2016, Dr U told her: "You're still the best [neonatal unit] nurse I've ever worked with." In another he wrote: "If anyone says anything to you about not being good enough or performing adequately I want you to promise me that you give me details to provide a statement."

Miss Langdale asked: "Do you think it was appropriate to be messaging about Child N with her at this time?" The doctor replied: "In hindsight, no. Looking at the content of the messaging here, I have shared too much.

"It is common to give updates and how patients are without naming them or giving lots of clinical detail. I gave details at the time that I thought were helpful but I see now that was probably not the case."

Cheshire Police were called in by the Countess of Chester in May 2017 to investigate the increased mortality rate and Letby continued working at the hospital until her arrest in July 2018. The inquiry is expected to sit at Liverpool Town Hall until early next year, with findings published by late autumn 2025.