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17 November 2023 / Sailesh Mehta , Tom Davies
Issue: 8049 / Categories: Features , Criminal
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The Lucy Letby Inquiry

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Sailesh Mehta & Tom Davies put the Lucy Letby Inquiry under the spotlight
  • Key differences between statutory and non-statutory inquiries.
  • Non-statutory inquiries will be used where the main participants are likely to be public officials and therefore there is a high likelihood they will comply.
  • Closed proceedings may reassure witnesses and encourage witnesses to be candid in their evidence.

In August 2023, Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies, and attempting to murder six more, at the neo-natal unit of Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016. In his sentencing remarks, Goss J described how Letby had targeted extremely vulnerable, premature babies, in particular twins or triplets, and used a variety of methods to kill them in an attempt to deflect suspicion away from herself. After they had died, she searched for the parents of the children she had killed, and falsified records to avoid detection. When her home was searched, confidential records and documents, as a well as a diary, were found which documented

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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