'I'm sorry they felt fobbed off', ex-hospital director tells angry parents of Lucy Letby's victims

Parents of babies attacked by nurse Lucy Letby received a 'total fob off' from a hospital medical director after raising concerns, a lawyer representing them has claimed. Ian Harvey was medical director at the Countess of Chester Hospital at the time the 33-year-old nurse carried out her crimes.

She murdered seven babies and attempted to kill six others. Mr Harvey retired in August 2018, a month after Letby was first arrested. Richard Scorer, from law firm Slater and Gordon which is representing two of the families, accused Mr Harvey of a 'shameful' failure to address parental concerns, adding: "Our clients received a series of anodyne letters from Harvey containing no proper explanation or clarification.

"The letters invited them to contact Harvey for more explanation and they tried to contact him repeatedly, but despite many attempts to get through to him they never received a return call. Our clients have described his response as a 'total fob off'.

J oin our WhatsAp p Top Stories and Breaking News group by clicking this link

"It seems that Harvey had little interest in passing any meaningful information to the parents, responding properly to any of their concerns, or complying with any duty of candour to them. In our view, this failure to address parental concerns was shameful and another matter which needs to be investigated by a statutory inquiry with the power to compel witnesses and the production of documents."

In a statement to the Guardian, Mr Harvey said: "Having read the heart-rending victim impact statements, I know how desperate the parents are for answers and I will help them as best I can at the inquiry. I'm sorry they felt fobbed off.

"I wanted to give detailed and accurate answers, but this