The quick take is this. The report won’t change the narrative about Letby’s guilt or innocence because it didn’t examine that subject at all. That wasn’t its remit.
Lady Justice Thirlwall said she had “approached the inquiry on the basis that Lucy Letby is guilty of the crimes of which she has been convicted”.
She emphasised that it was not her role “to set about reviewing the convictions”, telling the inquiry: “The Court of Appeal has done that, with a very clear result.”
But there is also a longer, more complex answer.
Whatever the report’s conclusions, Letby’s convictions will stand. However, the inquiry hasn’t operated in a vacuum. There are other parts of the legal system which will have an eye on its findings.
And the chairwoman of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) – the only organisation with the power to send Letby’s case back to the Court of Appeal – has told the BBC the CCRC will be paying close attention to Thirlwall.
Dame Vera Baird said: “We will be looking at the report with interest to assess whether it has any bearing on our review of the case.”
The CCRC has given no indication of when it will make its decision.
But while questions over Letby’s convictions weren’t within the scope of the Thirlwall Inquiry, it didn’t stop the subject making itself felt within the hearing room.
Just as the inquiry was wrapping up, the hospital’s former executives applied for it to be delayed until the CCRC has made its decision.
Letters pushing for a delay were also written to the inquiry by Letby’s lawyers and Sir David Davis, an MP who has campaigned on her behalf.
Sir David argued that an inquiry “predicated on the presumption that Lucy Letby’s conviction is safe, when there is now a wealth of authoritative voices questioning that conviction, will only undermine the conclusions arrived at by your inquiry and potentially lead to more babies dying unnecessarily”.
Lady Justice Thirlwall refused the requests to pause the inquiry. She said that she was not scrutinising Letby’s actions, but those of the officials and managers who were responsible for responding to the crisis.
