Rishi Sunak says Lucy Letby inquiry should be judge-led to ‘get answers’ for families
Rishi Sunak has said the inquiry into the murders carried out by Lucy Letby should be judge-led.
The government ordered an inquiry last week after Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others while working as a neonatal nurse.
She was sentenced to 14 whole-life orders and will never leave prison.
The prime minister was asked if the government inquiry into her crimes will be statutory, meaning people can be compelled to give evidence.
Ministers had previously said that “after careful consideration”, a non-statutory inquiry into the circumstances at the Countess of Chester Hospital “was found to be the most appropriate option”.
But lawyers for the bereaved families have been calling for a full statutory public inquiry to take place so there was “nowhere to hide”.
“This was one of the most despicable, horrific crimes in our history, and it’s really important that we get answers, particularly for the families of the victims,” Mr Sunak said.
“And of course, my thoughts are with them. The health secretary is taking that work forward, speaking to them to make sure we understand what they need and want and how best we can address that.
“Now, whatever form the inquiry takes, I believe it is important that it is judge-led so that it has a strong, independent voice to get to the bottom of what happened.”
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Richard Scorer, from law firm Slater and Gordon which is representing two of the Letby victims’ families, welcomed the prime minister’s recommendation for a judge-led inquiry.
But he added: “It is crucial that the judge and the inquiry has the powers to compel witnesses to give evidence under oath, and to force disclosure of documents.
“For that to happen, the inquiry needs to be put on a statutory basis.
“Otherwise it will lack legal teeth and is likely to be ineffective.”
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Tamlin Bolton of Switalskis Solicitors, who represent families of seven of the victims in their claims against the hospital trust, said: “We reiterate and echo the prime minister’s comments.
“We have to bear in mind that the families involved in these heinous crimes have lost confidence in the NHS and will need continual reassurance that the NHS fully comply with an inquiry.
“We are of the view that this can only be achieved by a process that is guaranteed to allow for thorough investigation. A process that has the ability to compel witness attendance and where all evidence is available to the inquiry.
“These families cannot be left to simply hope that the key information is being considered and rely on the willingness of staff to give evidence.
“It is vital that any inquiry moves with pace to ensure everything that happened on that unit and the actions of management are not repeated.”
Letby, 33, refused to attend court for the announcement of a number of guilty verdicts on Friday or for her sentencing on Monday.
Sky News understands the government is now looking at changing the law to force criminals to appear.
Politics
Red Wall MPs should focus on two-child benefit cap rather than winter fuel, Harriet Harman says
Red Wall MPs should push for the two-child benefit cap to be lifted rather than a reversal of the winter fuel payment policy, Baroness Harriet Harman has said.
Baroness Harman, the former Labour Party chair, told Sky’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast that this would hand the group a “progressive win” rather than simply “protesting and annoying Sir Keir Starmer” over winter fuel.
Earlier this week, a number of MPs in the Red Wall – Labour’s traditional heartlands in the north of England – reposted a statement on social media in which they said the leadership’s response to the local elections had “fallen on deaf ears”.
They singled out the cut to the winter fuel allowance as an issue that was raised on the doorstep and urged the government to rethink the policy, arguing doing so “isn’t weak, it takes us to a position of strength”.
Labour’s decision to means test the policy has snatched the benefit away from millions of pensioners.
But Baroness Harman said a better target for the group could be an overhaul of George Osborne’s two-child benefit cap.
The cap, announced in 2015 as part of Lord David Cameron’s austerity measures, means while parents can claim child tax credit or Universal Credit payments for their first and second child, they can’t make claims for any further children they have.
Labour faced pressure to remove the cap in the early months of government, with ministers suggesting in February that they were considering relaxing the limit.
Baroness Harman told Beth Rigby that this could be a sensible pressure point for Red Wall MPs to target.
She said: “It could be that they have a kind of progressive win, and it might not be a bad thing to do in the context of an overall strategy on child poverty.
“Let’s see whether instead of just protesting and annoying Sir Keir Starmer, they can build a bridge to a new progressive set of policies.”
Jo White, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw and a member of the Red Wall group, suggested that her party’s “connection” to a core group of voters “died” with the decision to means test the winter fuel payment for pensioners.
“We need to reset the government,” she told Electoral Dysfunction. “The biggest way to do that is by tackling issues such as winter fuel payments.
“I think we should raise the thresholds so that people perhaps who are paying a higher level of tax are the only people who are exempt from getting it.”
Pic: AP
A group of MPs in the Red Wall, thought to number about 40, met on Tuesday night following the fallout of local election results in England, which saw Labour lose the Runcorn by-election and control of Doncaster Council to Reform UK.
Following the results, Sir Keir said “we must deliver that change even more quickly – we must go even further”.
Some Labour MPs believe it amounted to ignoring voters’ concerns.
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One of the MPs who was present at the meeting told Sky News there was “lots of anger at the government’s response to the results”.
“People acknowledged the winter fuel allowance was the main issue for us on the doorstep,” they said.
“There is a lack of vision from this government.”
Another added: “Everyone was furious.”
Downing Street has ruled out a U-turn on means testing the winter fuel payment, following newspaper reports earlier this week that one might be on the cards.
A man from the US state of Virginia will spend over three decades behind bars after being convicted of sending crypto to the terrorist organization commonly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Federal Judge David Novak sentenced Mohammed Azharuddin Chhipa to 30 years and four months in prison on May 7 for sending over $185,000 to the Islamic State, the Department of Justice said on May 8.
Prosecutors said that from around October 2019 until October 2022, the 35-year-old Chhipa collected and sent money to female Islamic State members in Syria, which helped them escape prison camps and funded fighting.
The Justice Department said Chhipa would raise funds for the United Nations-designated terror organization through social media — receiving money online, or traveling hundreds of miles to accept donations in person.
He’d convert the money into crypto and send it to Turkey for it to be smuggled to Islamic State members across the border in Syria, prosecutors said.
A federal jury convicted Chhipa in December, finding him guilty on a charge of conspiracy to provide support to a terrorist organization and four charges of providing and attempting to provide support to a terrorist organization.
“This defendant directly financed ISIS in its efforts to commit vile terrorist atrocities against innocent citizens in America and abroad,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “This severe sentence illustrates that if you fund terrorism, we will prosecute you and put you behind bars for decades.”
Chhipa tried to flee US during FBI probe
Prosecutors said that during the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation into Chhipa, he tried to flee the country to escape prosecution and tried to hide his tracks through a series of actions seemingly aimed at confusing authorities.
According to a motion for detention filed in August, FBI agents searched Chhipa’s house on Aug. 2, 2019, and that night Chhipa drove to a bank, withdrew $1,800 from an ATM, and then went to a Taco Bell, where he paid a stranger for a ride to a relative’s house. The relative then drove him to a grocery store.
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Three days later, prosecutors said Chhipa “purchased a series of bus tickets using variations and/or misspelling of his name and recently created email accounts.”
He then travelled from Virginia to Mexico and onto Guatemala. He then bought tickets to fly from Guatemala to Panama, then onto Germany, and then to Egypt, but an Interpol Blue Notice was issued, and he was returned to the US.
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