Lucy Letby’s father threatened to hold a gun against a hospital boss’s head after he stopped the child serial killer from caring for babies, an inquiry has heard.
Tony Chambers, former chief executive of the Countess of Chester Hospital, held a meeting with Letby and her parents, Sue and John, in December 2016.
He had removed Letby, who has since been found guilty of murdering seven babies, away from her caring duties after doctors raised fears she may deliberately be harming infants.
But in the meeting her father John called for the instant dismissal of the two doctors who voiced their suspicions, and even threatened Mr Chambers with a gun, the Thirwall Inquiry has heard.
Mr Chambers said: ‘Letby’s family, it is fair to say, were very upset and very angry about how they felt she had been treated unfairly by the trust.
‘I’m prepared to accept that we had not been open and honest with her at the time.
‘Letby’s father was very angry, he was making threats.’
The threats were so bad he ‘made an already difficult situation even worse’.
Mr Chambers said: ‘He was threatening guns to my head and all sorts of things.’
Letby, 34, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others between June 2015 and June 2016.
But before her conviction Letby is said to have felt consultant Dr Stephen Brearey and Dr Ravi Jayaram had ‘orchestrated a campaign’ against her and some doctors called her the ‘angel of death’ and ‘murderer on the unit’.
Mr Chambers went on to ask the consultants to apologise to Letby for the alleged derogatory remarks, the inquiry has heard, and a follow-up meeting took place with Letby and her mother in early February 2017.
When asked if he felt like he had been manipulated by Letby, Mr Chambers said it appeared her father ‘seemed to be pulling the strings’.
He said: ‘In handling these matters with Letby, I was very conscious to try as much as possible to avoid further escalation particularly from her father.’
Mr Chambers told Letby he ‘had her back’ and said ‘her resilience astounded him’.
The inquiry, at Liverpool Town Hall before Lady Justice Thirlwall, is expected to sit until early 2025, with findings published by late autumn that year.
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