than 80 years. hello, i'm lukwesa burak. the british government has ordered an independent inquiry into how a nurse came to murder seven neonatal babies in her care and attempted to kill another six. lucy letby was found guilty after a trial in manchester in the northwest of england, which lasted 10 months. the inquiry will consider why concerns raised for months by doctors, who worked with her, were not taken seriously by managers at the hospital in chester. nick garnett reports. hello, lucy is it? yes.

hello. my name's muted i from cheshire police. can we step in two seconds? oh, yes. this is the moment when the net closed in. yep, not a problem. in tears, lucy letby is brought out of her house under arrest and taken away. it seemed unbelievable — a neonatal nurse, a protector of the most vulnerable members of society. lucy letby had worked at the countess of chester children's hospital since 2012. in early 2015, she qualified to work in the neonatal high dependency and intensive care units. onjune 8 that year, she committed her first murder. for the next 12 months, the attacks continued. injune 2016, two babies died in two days. 0n the third day, another baby collapsed. letby was taken off clinical duties. two years later, letby was arrested for the first time. police found medical records under her bed

and hand—scrawled notes. "i am a horrible, evil person," one says. "i am evil." "i did this," says another. "i don't deserve to live." "i killed them on purpose because i'm not good enough to care for them." "i am a horrible, evil person." a confession — or, as letby claimed — the tormented thoughts of someone accused of heinous crimes. the trial was told letby had used hard—to—detect methods to carry out her attacks. in her hands, innocuous substances like air, milk or medication like insulin would become lethal. she perverted her learning and weaponised her craft to inflict harm, grief and death. legally, we can't identify the families who were involved in this case. these are the parents of twin boys born prematurely at the hospital. their mother was taking milk

to them when she heard one of her sons crying loudly. in the corridor, i could immediately hear crying. well, it was — it felt more than crying, it was screaming. it was screaming. and i was like, "what?" "what's the matter with them?" i walked into the room to see it was my boy. he had blood round his mouth, and lucy was there... well, faffing about. you know when it feels like somebody wants to look busy but they're not actually doing anything? the baby died that evening. the next night, they couldn't believe it when their other son also fell ill — another victim of letby. he survived but now has complex needs. now the focus turns to what lessons can be learnt and if she could've

been stopped sooner. the government says a public enquiry will be held. the important thing here is that something like this never happens again in the nhs must learn lessons. that is why the government is launching an inquiry to make sure that all the lessons that can be learnt will be learnt and that all possible action is to take —— is taken so that this can never happen again. letby, a nurse in charge of the most vulnerable among us, instead of coming to work to care, she came to kill. nick garnett, bbc news. live now to our north of england reporterjessica lane. what's the latest at that hospital? i'm here at the countess of chester hospital. the latest is that there

are many questions still remaining. yesterday, lucy letby was found guilty of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of another six. that doesn't mean that this is the end of it. there are many questions still today about what exactly happened here and how lucy letby was able to get away with what she got away with for quite so long. normally, at her the owner natal —— at neonatal unit, you would expect three deaths a year. injune 2015, there were three deaths in one month. that did raise concerns and there were alarm bells ringing with lots of staff here and we know that some questions were raised at that time. however, nothing was done and lucy letby went on to continue to murder and to harm many more babies. there are questions being asked about who knew what and what should have been done at that time. we know that it wasn't until may 2017 that police launched their investigation

and lucy letby was arrested in 2018, three years after she started killing babies here. there were concerns raised by staff here. we know that they were raised at the time and the government has now launched an inquiry into exactly what happened, which they say they hope will get some answers. we have had from police that they are going to be looking into the admissions of 11000 to be looking into the admissions of 4000 babies at this hospital and at other hospitals while lucy letby worked. families are saying that they want more answers about what was known and what could have been done. the former chairman of the nhs trust his says he feels that the board was misled. he says he will cooperate fully with the public inquiry that has been launched by the government. we have had from the chief executive of the trust at the time. he says in response to those comments that he believes that what was shared with the board at the time was honest and open and lucy

letby will be sentenced on monday will letby will be sentenced on monday wil , ., , ~ . . letby will be sentenced on monday wil , . ., ., ., will stop. we have heard from individuals _ will stop. we have heard from individuals involved _ will stop. we have heard from individuals involved in - will stop. we have heard from individuals involved in the - will stop. we have heard from i individuals involved in the story. yesterday, when we had those press conferences, we heard from a representative from the trust itself and they mentioned reassuring not only patients but also the local community. what have you been hearing from the local community about this story? how are they feeling? i mean, this is their hospital. trust must be severely shaken? it hospital. trust must be severely shaken? , �* , hospital. trust must be severely shaken? , �*, . shaken? it is. it's so concerning forfamilies— shaken? it is. it's so concerning for families and _ shaken? it is. it's so concerning for families and the _ shaken? it is. it's so concerning for families and the thing - shaken? it is. it's so concerning for families and the thing that l for families and the thing that really shocks people, everyone here, notjust families and notjust really shocks people, everyone here, not just families and not just the people involved, the most shocking thing is that these are the most vulnerable babies. they went into a place where they should have been

looked after and the woman, lucy letby, the nurse that should have been making them feel better, is the one that was harming them and in some cases, killing them. that has really sent shock waves around the community here.— really sent shock waves around the community here. thank you very much indeed. community here. thank you very much indeed- let's — community here. thank you very much indeed. let's bring _ community here. thank you very much indeed. let's bring you _ community here. thank you very much indeed. let's bring you some - indeed. let's bring you some breaking news. this is concerning the war in ukraine. it has been reported that president zelensky has said that a russian missile has hit the city in the north of the country, causing death and casualties. these are recent images that we have received here at the bbc. they have appeared online, appearing to show damage in the central square of chernihiv, where theatre and university are located. you can clearly see the debris from

the buildings. vehicles also damaged, with windows and windscreen is taken out by the strike. it's not yet clear how many people have been killed or injured. chernihiv is about 150 kilometres from the capital kyiv and close to the border with belarus. it was occupied by russia at the beginning of this invasion but recaptured by ukrainian troops. let's turn our attention to police who are investigating the murder of the ten—year—old girl in surrey. they want to speak to her

father, step—mother and uncle. they flew to pakistan the day before sara sharif�*s body was found with extensive injuries at her home in woking. police working on the case have been giving an update on their investigation. we have identified three people who would like to speak to. sara's father, urfan sharif, his partner, beinash batool, and urfan's brother, faisal malik. it is believed he travelled to pakistan. the postmortem revealed that sara suffered multiple and extensive injuries which were likely to have been caused through a sustained period of time. we now know that sara had suffered injuries over an extended period of time significantly changed the nature of an investigation and we have wide and the timescale and the focus of our inquiry. we can cross live now to woking and our reporter, leigh milner.

how our residents and neighbours around and surrounding the house behind you been reacting to the story? i behind you been reacting to the sto ? ., , behind you been reacting to the sto ? . , ., ., story? i have been here all morning and literally — story? i have been here all morning and literally from _ story? i have been here all morning and literally from seven _ story? i have been here all morning and literally from seven o'clock - and literally from seven o'clock this morning, i have seen notjust families but friends and family, and pay their respects to the little girl who lost her life behind me. i have been reading some of the heartfelt messages and itjust goes to show how much this incident has affected the local community. we have had from the police, details of how they came to find sara's body. what we now know is that a 999 call was made from pakistan and it was made by sara's father. turns out he had travelled to pakistan with his family the day before. they had one—way tickets and that's why this has now turned into a into an

international manhunt, notjust for international manhunt, not just for him international manhunt, notjust for him but also for his brother. and his partner. they travel to pakistan with five children. we don't yet know where they are, that's why this manhunt is still going ahead. the police here is working very closely with the authorities there. what we do know is that a postmortem examination has been carried out on sara's body. we don't yet know how her death was caused but we do know that we found out about some rather disturbing details about how she may have been living. as we had there, she suffered multiple and extensive injuries over a sustained period of time, which is as you can imagine, significantly changed the nature of this police investigation. going forward, if these individuals are fined, it is going to be very tricky to get them home, if they don't volunteer. it will most likely involve an extradition and for that

to happen, they will have to be enough evidence to convince both the courts in the uk and also in pakistan. it's also important to remember that because there is no extradition treaty between pakistan and the uk, this could actually take years to solve. and the uk, this could actually take years to solve-— years to solve. lets catch up with this weekend's _ years to solve. lets catch up with this weekend's sport. _ hello. england and spain have held their final training sessions ahead of their world cup final on sunday. the england players have been heaping the praise on their manager for taking the fear factor away from their first ever world final. they spoke of their confidence and how relaxed they felt after their final training session in the sunshine at their base just up the coast from sydney. while it's a first world cup final for the players, their manager tasted defeat with the netherlands at the last one and is determined to learn from that, while the players are feeling spurred on by support, in australia and especially back home in england.

isa group, is a group, we would like to say thank you not only to the fans back home but the fans here as well. we have felt really welcomed and very special over here, and i think every game has been incredible. everyone has seen that first hand. but back home, we have seen the videos. we appreciate the effort of everyone supporting us. it's amazing what football can do, bring everyone together, especially our nation. we are really proud and stick with us, one more game. it’s are really proud and stick with us, one more game.— are really proud and stick with us, one more game. it's incredible what ha ens. one more game. it's incredible what happens- we _ one more game. it's incredible what happens. we have _ one more game. it's incredible what happens. we have felt _ one more game. it's incredible what happens. we have felt the - one more game. it's incredible what happens. we have felt the support | happens. we have felt the support here but— happens. we have felt the support here but also from the other side of the world _ here but also from the other side of the world. in the uk, and that is telling _ the world. in the uk, and that is telling that you dream of and we 'ust telling that you dream of and we just hope — telling that you dream of and we just hope that we play our best game ever tomorrow and that is everyone who is_ ever tomorrow and that is everyone who is watching in the stadium, in the uk _ who is watching in the stadium, in the uk and — who is watching in the stadium, in the uk and everywhere else that suriports — the uk and everywhere else that supports us is going to enjoy it.

so england take on a spain side who've also reached their first world cup final and hadn't even won a knockout match before this tournament, and have got this far despite off—the—field problems and falling—outs between players and the coach before this tournament. however, the competition experience has brought the players closer together now. we have a really good squad. we are all together and i think that we all have the same goal since the beginning. we've been going through this world cup, we have made a good group and we have been through good moments on the pitch and that's made us believe in the team and make us be together. and i think that's very important as well, going through the final. the hosts australia surpassed expectations by getting to the semifinals, but their hopes of finishing third and getting

bronze medals have been dashed by sweden. the swedes are the highest ranked team in the last four and made their superior experiece and talent count in their third—place play—off. kosovare asllani scored a stunning second after an earlier penalty, and 2—0 is how it finished. the world triathlon para cup in paris had its swimming legs cancelled following "discrepancies" in water quality tests from the river seine. these pictures from earlier in the week of athletes practising in the river. the test event races for the 2024 paris 0lympics were changed to a duathlon after world aquatics said the decision was made so as "not to put the health and safety of the athletes at risk." great britain's dave ellis and guide luke pollard claimed gold in the men's ptv1 class, while claire cashmore took silver in the women's ptss. the start of the world athletics championships in budapest was delayed by a thunderstorm

in the hungarian capital. among the early events affected were the the 20km race walk, but that is now under way. it's also the start of the heptathlon, and in total four gold medals will be handed out today. and that's all the sport for now. north america is dealing with devastating weather events, thousands of miles apart. in a moment, we'll have the latest on the evacuations caused by wildfires in canada, as the province of british columbia is put under a state of emergency and parts of the northwest territories are evacuated. but we start in northwest mexico and the neighbouring us state of california, which are bracing for a powerful hurricane. hurricane hilary is a category 4 storm and has winds of 145 miles, or 230 kilometres, an hour.

it's expected to make landfall in mexico later today in the state of baja california peninsula seen here. black warning flags are flying and police have already been closing roads. across the region locals have been preparing for the hurricane. like here in the resort of cabo san lucas. there are warnings that there could be "potentially catastrophic" flooding, although forecasters think it will lose some winds speed as it reaches southern california. preparations are also already underway, including working to shore up hillsides. officials are worried about landslides and major flooding. the last tropical storm to hit california was in 1939, over 80 years ago. this map shows the predicted path

this storm might take. yesterday, the centre of the hurricane was located roughly 400 miles south of mexico's southern edge. president biden spoke about the preparations underway. i also want to note that my team is closely monitoring hurricane hilary, which has the potential to bring significant rain and flooding to southern california. fema has prepositioned personnel and supplies in the region, and they are ready to respond as needed. i urge everyone, everyone in the path of the storm to take precautions and listen to the guidance of state and local officials. david roth is a weather forecaster with the us national weather service. he told us what to expect from hurricane hilary. the storm is moving northward and is expected near the coast of baja california peninsula at about...

i guess that would be on sunday morning. and the centre itself is going to scrape the coast up towards southern california. now, once you get north, the point, eugenia, which is that little peninsula right in the middle of baja thatjuts out into the pacific, the water temperatures get very cold. so we're going to have the combination of cold water, increasing vertical wind shear from the upper level, low and upper level trough up to its north—northwest that's pulling it northward. and land interaction with the peninsula ranges of baja california that extend into the southern part of the state of california and the united states, they're all going to work to weaken the system. it's probably not going to have a whole lot of central thunderstorm activity by the time it gets to southern california. but that's not really where we're expecting the main threat. we're expecting the main threat to be from all this moisture, instability and strong winds that are coming up from the gulf of california to the east of baja. they already saw an uptick in shower and thunderstorm activity today across southern nevada

and portions of arizona. and that should really increase over the next few days. sunday and monday, you're expected to be the worst days for heavy rainfall. and the general forecast calls for 75—150mm of rainfalljust broadly with local amounts of 250mm. now, if we were in the southern and eastern united states, this might have some just a modest impact depending on the place, maybe a moderate impact. but we're dealing with the deserts and the ground is very hard. you're dealing with rugged topography. the mountains come up very sharply. you're also dealing with, because it's a desert, whether we're talking about the mojave desert, which is the lower desert or the higher desert up in the great basin, you're not dealing with a whole lot of vegetation except in the mountains.

so every time it rains in some of these places, these washes which are basically dry rivers or dry riverbeds, they activate. suddenly you have these rivers and streams where they really haven't been in a long time. the western canadian province of british columbia has declared a state of emergency as the country deals with its worst wildfire season on record. the city of kelowna is under threat after embers blew across a lake from neigbouring west kelowna. residents of the remote northern city of yellowknife, which is threatened by a huge wildfire, have been scrambling to leave. an official deadline to evacuate has already passed. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes reports. the scale of the emergency facing yellowknife and its 20,000 residents can be seen in these satellite images. smoke billowing over the remote city as fire rages all around. everyone is trying to get out. there have been long queues at petrol stations and for buses to ferry people to safety.

with just a few belongings and their pets, but how to get out is the problem. air is going to become the only option at some point if the fire keeps encroaching further and further toward yellowknife. there is just the one road south to the rest of canada. it's a small road — one lane in either direction for about 400 miles, 600 or so kilometres. it is a huge distance. there is virtually no infrastructure to get people out by road. dozens of planes have left the city over the past few days and more flights are being arranged by the canadian military. the federal government has promised that no—one will be left behind. scary. i keep crying. i don't even know how long we are going to be away. it is a race against time for yellowknife. 0fficials fear strong winds could fan the flames towards the outskirts of the city within hours. this is a country under siege from wildfires —

a separate blaze in the west threatening kelowna and british columbia is growing at terrifying speed. there are more than 1,000 active fires burning — half of them out of control. canada's worst ever wildfire season is showing no sign of letting up. peter bowes, bbc news. britney spears has made herfirst public comments since news of her divorce from husband sam asghari. posting on instagram, britney said she was a "little shocked" as six years was a long time to be with someone. the singer said she wasn't there to explain why because it was "honestly nobody�*s business" but did say "i couldn't take the pain anymore." the pair had been married from 14 months and the divorce petition cited "irreconcilable differences" between the couple.

stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. here it is. storm betty, named by the irish met office. rain spreading northwards through the country. we still got strong and gusty winds across northern, southern and western scotland for a time through this morning. the heavy rain becomes

confined to the north of scotland. further blustery showers. quite a fine afternoon to come. good, sunny spells. largely dry in the south—east and warm here. 24, 20 5 degrees and low 20s across the north but it will stay quite blustery. as we head every saturday night, most of the showers will be across the north—west corner of the uk. a few getting into western england and wales but lengthy close pals. quite a mild night, but not as humid as it was the previous nights. it's the women's final in sydney on the sunday morning. sunday evening, local time, where temperatures around 17 or 18 degrees. good spells of sunshine but it will be quite blustery. if you're planning any outdoor activities for the football free sunday, it looks pretty decent. a lot of sunshine around. most of the showers will be across western

areas, western scotland and northern ireland. a lot of dry weather around, feeling warm in the south—east with light winds. low 20s across scotland and northern ireland. into next week, it is a north—west, south—east divide. low pressure to the north—west of the uk, high pressure towards the south. it does mean for large parts of england and wales, they will hold onto dry weather but best of the sunshine was a south and east. always stronger winds and longer spells of rain the further north and west you are. those temperatures range from 20 to 26 or 27 degrees in the south—east. stays unsettled in the south—east. stays unsettled in the north and the west through the week. temperatures start to fall, with a few showers here and there.

this is bbc news, the headlines: the uk government is set to launch an independent inquiry into how nurse lucy letby came to murder seven neonatal babies in her care. the inquiry will review why concerns raised about her were not taken seriously by management at the countess of chester hospital. uk police investigating the murder of ten—year—old sara sharif, found dead in a house in woking, say they want to speak to three people in connection with the death. an international search is under way for sara's father, stepmother and uncle.

hurricane hilary heads towards the pacific coast of mexico, where it's expected to make landfall on sunday before tracking to california and nevada. forecasters say it will weaken to a tropical storm but still brings the risk of flooding and strong winds. it'll be california's first powerful storm in more than 80 years. the british government has ordered an independent inquiry into how a nurse came to murder seven neonatal babies in her care and tried to kill another six. lucy letby was found guilty after a trial in manchester which lasted ten months. earlier, i spoke to sir robert francis, who in 2013 published a damning report on the failures of another nhs trust — the mid staffordshire foundation trust. the reason was that it was

discovered there was a high level of mortality at this hospital which couldn't really be explained. it turned out it had not been investigated, indeed the figures had been dismissed. eventually, the relatives of deceased people mounted a huge protest, as a result of which, an inquiry was held, which uncovered many aspects of weakness in leadership, failure to give priority to patients as opposed to targets, and a number of other issues, which led to me having to make 290 recommendations for changing things. principal among which was the duty of candour, which required professionals and hospitals to be open and frank about things that had gone wrong, and also a culture whereby, when things had gone wrong, they would be investigated properly so that lessons could be learned early, and steps put in place

to prevent things happening again. there were 290 recommendations from that inquiry report, 290. when you look at what we heard yesterday, the guilty verdict, what has the nhs learned? to be fair, i think the nhs has learned a great deal. a horrible case like this, and of course one's feelings are entirely with the families at an awful time like this, it's very rare indeed. and as was said in the allitt case, it may be difficult, if not impossible, to stop such a very rare case coming through. but what stands out to me as being a question that needs to be looked into is whether, when senior doctors, not one, not two, but several, appear to have raised concerns about what was happening, even though they didn't know why necessarily things were happening,

there was a need to investigate that properly. by which i mean notjust starting from the understandable feeling that a really nice nurse surely couldn't be capable of doing this sort of thing, but to start on a priority of looking at what the risk to patients was. and if you start by thinking, "what do i need to know in order to protect patients from risk?" what you need is an objective investigation, one that's proportional, but undertaken by people who are fully trained and qualified to do such an investigation. i don't know whether that happened here, but i rather doubt that it did. with more on this, wherejoined now by the bbc�*s political correspondent damian grammaticas. many, many questions will be discussed over the

next few days concerning the story, damian, but one of those of the government's announcement of the inquiry. government's announcement of the inuui . , ., ., ~ , inquiry. yes, and that, ithink, is auoin to inquiry. yes, and that, ithink, is going to be _ inquiry. yes, and that, ithink, is going to be key _ inquiry. yes, and that, ithink, is going to be key to this. - inquiry. yes, and that, ithink, is going to be key to this. as - inquiry. yes, and that, ithink, is going to be key to this. as you . inquiry. yes, and that, ithink, is. going to be key to this. as you were just hearing there about the lessons to be learnt in order to try to prevent this happening again, in order to improve sort of processes in the way things work, and to that end the government announced yesterday that an independent inquiry will be set up to examine the way the compliance of suspicions were handled, the way the nhs trust behaved, and to provide recommendations. now, that is an independent inquiry, it is not a statutory inquiry, which would be a level above, and at that level, a statutory inquiry would have the power to compel witnesses to demand evidence. the power without is that it is more complicated, takes

longer, and it would simply mean that the process lasted longer. the government says it has chosen this route because it wants lessons to be learnt quicker and those recommendations to be provided sooner, but there are some who think it should be a full statutory inquiry. it should be a full statutory inuui . �* ., inquiry. and in the meantime, the sentencing — inquiry. and in the meantime, the sentencing expected _ inquiry. and in the meantime, the sentencing expected on _ inquiry. and in the meantime, the sentencing expected on monday. | inquiry. and in the meantime, the - sentencing expected on monday. yes, exactl , i sentencing expected on monday. yes, exactly. i think— sentencing expected on monday. yes, exactly, i think that _ sentencing expected on monday. ye: exactly, i think that will happen sentencing expected on monday. i2: exactly, i think that will happen on 10am on monday, but we already know that lucy letby has said she will not attend that, and that has focused attention on a question that has been around for some time, should anything be done about that? the government had said back in december last year, dominic raab, thenjustice december last year, dominic raab, then justice secretary, december last year, dominic raab, thenjustice secretary, that he was going to bring forward legislation wanted to bring forward legislation to compel people to attend sentencing or, because that is often very difficult, practically to do that, and if you try to compel somebody, they may end up being very

disruptive and that may be even more sort of difficult for families and victims to witness, that the alternative would be some kind of legislation to give judges the power to say, if somebody didn't attend the sentencing hearing, thejudge could add extra time to the tariff. now, that legislation talked about last december, already in the wake of previous cases, hasn't been forthcoming. the government says it is committed to doing it, but it may not do so until the end of this year, possibly into next year, so no firm timeline. the labour party has been very critical of that, saying the government is dragging its feet. it says it has been pushing for this from early last year and would bring in something, but as i say, the difficulty is partly a practical one in how you would compel people, if thatis in how you would compel people, if that is what you sought to do. come out 0k, damian grammaticas, thank you very much.

the former chairman of the countess of chester nhs trust, where lucy letby worked, says he feels the board was misled over what was happening at the trust. 0ur social affairs correspondent michael buchanan told me a bit more about sir duncan nichol�*s statement. for a year, the countess of chester hospital, between the summer of 2015 and the summer of 2016, when 13 babies died in unexplained circumstances, and we now know that the pediatricians at the unit, the neonatal unit, were raising concerns about what was happening, the board were not made aware of this problem, despite the number of deaths being significantly higher than they usually were. but in the summer of 2016, they did become aware of it. and one of the things they decided to do at that point was to launch a series of external independent investigations to try and understand why these babies were dying. and none of these investigations were ever properly commissioned or properly completed. and they never got to the bottom of what was happening.

but what what sir duncan nichol, the former chairman said in a statement this morning, is that he feels that the board was misled by the by the managers of the trust, in particular he refers to a document they were giving in december of 2016, in which he says that they were told explicitly there was no criminal activity pointing to any one individual when in truth, he goes on to say the investigating neonatologist had stated that she had not had the time to complete the reviews fully. now, this is a reference to a london—based neonatologist who was asked by the trust at one point to see if she could help them understand why the babies were dying. she told them explicitly that she didn't have the time to do it and it would need further investigations. but according to the statement from sir duncan nichol this morning, the board were actually told that that those reviews by her had found there was no criminal activity at all. so what reaction has there been to all of this, then? well, we have been in touch with

two of the former senior leaders of the trust at the time, the former chief executive and the former medical director. the former chief executive said that what was shared with the board was open and honest and represented the trust's best view of what was happening at the time. the former medical director said that all the comments he made to the board were true to the best of his knowledge. both of them, and indeed sir duncan nichol, say they will cooperate fully with the inquiry. but there is also a second inquiry, a public inquiry. there is also a second review that was ordered three years ago by sir duncan nichol and the former chief executive at the time, looking into how the trust handled the allegations against lucy letby. as i said, it was commissioned three years ago. we still don't know when it's going to be published. lucy letby isn't the first medical professional to use her training and uniform to deceive and manipulate colleagues and relatives — and to kill patients. here'sjoe pike. she is not the first nhs serial killer, and lucy letby

is unlikely to be the last. beverley allitt, harold shipman and colin norris were all convicted of murdering their patients. and as with lucy letby, in each case, the authorities were asked, why weren't they stopped sooner? dr shipman targeted those who trusted him — elderly, vulnerable patients — and injected them with morphine. the bodies of nine of his victims were exhumed as part of the police investigation. he was jailed in 2000 and killed himself in prison four years later. she has been found with a quantity, that much, insulin in her. elderly patients were also the target of colin norris, a young nurse who went rogue. in 2008, he was found guilty of murdering four and trying to kill a fifth. but the closest comparison to letby

is perhaps beverley allitt — also a nurse in her 20s, also working on a children's ward, this time in lincolnshire. in 1993, allitt received 13 life sentences for the murder and attempted murder of infants. and we thought we would try and look at this to see how big the phenomenon was... criminologist david wilson has studied doctors and nurses who become serial killers. the person who kills within a healthcare setting has already developed the desire to kill before they join the healthcare setting, and if you want to kill, of course you are going to identify people who are vulnerable, people whose deaths won't be noticed, and so guess what? the people that serial killers target, by and large, are older people, or they target very, very young people, specifically in a neonatal unit,

in this case, where, again, small babies with chronic underlying healthcare, where their deaths won't be commented upon or seen as being suspicious, because tragically, some babies born in that situation will die. thejudge—led inquiry following beverley allitt�*s conviction in 1993 criticised the speed of the hospital's response. again, there are comparisons with lucy letby. at the countess of chester hospital, managers did not properly investigate how 13 babies had died unexpectedly in a single year, even though doctors had raised concerns. susan gilby took over running the nhs trust soon after lucy letby�*s arrest. the paediatricians were discussing, you know, the terrible nights on call that they were having. one of them said, "every time this is happening to me,

that i'm being called in for these catastrophic events which were unexpected and unexplained, lucy letby is there," and then somebody else said, "yes, i have found that". and then someone else had the same response, and they all realised that the common factor for each of them was letby�*s presence on the unit. the first three babies died injune 2015. senior managers agreed to hold an external investigation. that never happened. four months later, four more babies were dead, and a staff analysis linked lucy letby to every one of them. by the following february, ten babies had died, but when doctors ask two senior managers for an urgent meeting, they did not respond for three months. injune, over two days, two more babies died. lucy letby was on shift for both. by now, there had been

13 unexplained deaths. in september, the royal college of paediatrics and child health urged the trust to investigate each death individually. that didn't happen. it was only the following may, after continual pressure from staff, that the trust called the police, almost two years after the first unexpected deaths. when she was arrested injuly 2018, lucy letby was still working at the trust. no disciplinary action had been taken against her. there is only one serial killer of babies that's worked in that organisation, and the executive team were not the people who were responsible for the deaths of those babies, but they had some opportunities to get to the bottom of what was happening. the reputation of the organisation, and protecting that reputation,

was a big factor in how people responded to the concerns raised. the months of inaction is no shock to this former nhs whistle—blower and former nhs manager. not surprised at all. trusts generally delay everything for as long as is possible. now, what's fascinating here is that, like many nhs trusts in which tragedies have occurred, for different reasons, obviously, to this specific case, you'll find that the prompts for action come from outside the system, because the system ignores its own people. if you come at the system, if you approach directors and senior managers with good news without evidence, that is welcomed, that's taken on board, and you've just got to look at what was going on, whether it's shrewsbury and telford, whether it's nottingham hospital's maternity units, or whether it's, you know, going back to mid staffs, yeah? when good news is put forward,

even though it's baseless, it's welcomed, but when negative news, what i would perceive as factual news, when that is brought forward, even with evidence, it tends to be pushed aside, because it doesn't suit the narrative. one question remains about lucy letby�*s murders. why? sometimes the healthcare serial killer will say that, "i was actually being merciful." "this person was in a great deal of pain, and i wasjust ending quickly." other healthcare serial killers have often just wanted, because the unit is under such pressure, theyjust tried to get rid of difficult patients. you know, we've cleared another bed. you know, it wasjust a kind of sort of managerial efficiency that they seemed to be expressing. i think, on the basis of what emerged at court, we might be able to infer

what might have motivated her, and there did seem to be a hero complex. the babies who survived lucy letby�*s crimes will now be approaching their eighth birthdays. it has been a distressingly long wait for the doctors and nurses to be believed, and for the families to getjustice. dr stephen brearey led the team of seven consultants on the neonatal unit at the countess of chester hospital who shared concerns about the deaths. he spoke to the bbc�*s north of england correspondentjudith moritz. if we go back to the summer of 2015, when did you first become concerned? a review of the care of all three babies was done, and there was nothing in common that we could pin these three deaths on.

but the staffing analysis did identify that lucy letby was on shift for those three episodes. and did that worry you? well, i think i can remember saying, oh no, it can't be lucy, nice lucy. tell me about when you remember first meeting lucy letby. i don't recall the first time that i met lucy letby. she started work in 2012. she didn't strike me as too different to most nurses on the unit. you didn't have any worries about her doing thejob? i don't think anybody did. it's something that nobody really wants to consider, you know, that a member of staff might be harming the babies under your care. can you give us a sense

of what was happening in the unit over the summer and autumn of 2015 in terms of there being more unexplained collapses and deaths? it was the first time i started to have some concerns about the unusual nature of the collapses and the deaths. i e—mailed the unit manager after this death in october, and i asked to discuss lucy letby and her association with the deaths. some of the babies did not respond to resuscitation quite how we would've expected them to. most babies get a heart rate back, their breathing would get better, but that didn't happen in these cases like you would expect, which was unusual. as the year turned into early 2016, particularly february 2016, things took another turn. you'd asked for an urgent meeting.

that's correct, yes. as a group, our concerns were rising. there's no communication from senior managers in the trust. and how long did it take for that meeting to come about? the meeting didn't happen until may. tell me about the fact that after two of the triplets died injune, you had a debrief, talk me through what happened. lucy letby was there, she was sitting next to me. i spoke to her towards the end of the meeting, and i said how tired and upset she must be after two days of this, and she turned to me and said, "no, i'm back on shift tomorrow." which struck me as being incredible, really. the other staff were very traumatised by all of this, we were crumbling

before your eyes almost. and she was quite happy and confident to come into work on the saturday. and it was shortly after that that lucy letby was taken off duty. yes. would you say that was the tipping point? certainly, the tipping point for the consultant body, who wanted to work in a safe environment. we had a number of meetings with senior management, it was quite clear that they were not going to budge and they didn't think it appropriate to go to the police at that stage. do you think it's the case that if you hadn't persisted, there would never have been a police investigation? i'm sure, yeah. that was the intention of the executives, was to somehow close this case. was this a cover—up? i don't know how you'd define a cover—up, but to us, the evidence in front of us was quite clear.

it felt like they were trying to engineer some sort of narrative, a way out of this that didn't involve going to the police. if you want to call that a cover—up, then that's a cover—up. can expectant mothers coming into the unit have confidence? i think those parents can expect, em... ..as high a level of care on our unit as any unit in the country. we've got through a particularly hard time, and i think we owe it to the families, for them to know that the staff care. lucy letby�*s crimes will resonate across the country, but particularly in the city

of chester, where the hospital is based. bbc north west reporter phil mccann is from chester himself and sent us this report. # let's make music, time to have some fun...# the maternity department at the countess has made memories and changed lives for thousands around west cheshire and north wales. darla, asher and fran were all born there. i would recommend it to anybody. definitely. he was five weeks premature, so we stayed at the neonatal unit for two weeks. we could not fault them, they were absolutely amazing. lucy letby�*s trial began before some of the babies that come here to moo music in chester every week were even born. it was in the news when gaby was expecting her baby. and when jack was waiting to welcome ellie into the world. you kind of try and say there must be some mistake,

that couldn't possibly have happened, it's just too horrible to even comprehend. but, yeah, it is absolutely shocking. when it's local as well, itjust seems to hit home more. not a lot happens in chester, it is quiet, not a lot changes, so, yes, when it happens where you were born and where your child was born, it can hit close to home. this is a city that is thought of as a safe place to bring up kids. you have so much to do, obviously, the zoo and the river, just so many lovely things to do, and it's a friendly and safe area. this department has also been able to rely on the people of chester. for four years until 2017, the annual santa dash, zumbathons and loads of events were held for the babygro appeal to fundraise for a new neonatal baby unit at the countess. letby was a neonatal nurse, and so here she was in 2013 posing for a picture to promote the appeal. this whole case has caused people like claire to think. it was really positive. the staff right from my first

appointment listened. clear�*s son rory was born at the countess in 2016 when letby was working there. he's seven now. i do think what if? i do think i was very lucky that my labour had gone really well and actually we came out of the theatre and were together and i did not have any time away from the baby, but, yeah, anybody who was there at that time has probably had that thought in their head. lucy letby leaves behind a city full of parents with unanswerable questions and raw shocked at what happened in their maternity unit in their city where their children were born. phil mccann, bbc north west tonight, chester. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. hello there. after a very stormy start to the weekend, it looks like conditions will calm down, with sunshine and showers with order of play, i think, for the rest of today

and certainly into tomorrow. in fact, tomorrow looks like it'll be the best day of the weekend with more sunshine around than what we'll see of showers. now, this deep area of low pressure was named by the irish met service as storm betty brought a swathe of gales through the irish sea and a band of heavy rain which spread across the country, it was very wet indeed across northern ireland. as we head through the afternoon, the heaviest the rain will be across the northern isles. there'll still be a bit of a hang—back from the system across central western scotland, so showers or long spells of rain here. it remains quite blustery, not as windy as it's been through the overnight period and through this morning. but for northern ireland, much of england and wales, apart from a few blustery showers towards the west, it'll be fine with sunny spells, warm in the south east around 25 degrees, low 20s in the north and the west. as we head through this evening and overnight, it stays quite breezy across the north west, a few showers here, maybe the odd one for western england and wales. most places will be dry, clear spells, a few some fog patches developing in the south as the winds fall lighter. and it'll be quite a mild night for most and not as humid

as it was the previous night. so, of course, sunday marks the women's world cup final across in sydney, sunday evening. it'll be fine with some evening sunshine, temperatures around 18 degrees, but it will be quite blustery. and for our shores, it'll also be fine if you have any outdoor celebrations, any barbecues through the day. it will be a good one, i think. plenty of sunshine around, a few showers, mainly towards the north and the west of the country. the odd one getting into the east, but many places staying dry and feeling warm again across central, southern eastern england, the mid 20s, low 20s across scotland and northern ireland. the winds a little bit lighter for all into next week. low pressure sits the north west of the uk, higher pressure over the near continent will influence southern and eastern parts of the country. so the best of the weather through monday, tuesday and wednesday will be across southern and eastern parts of england. feeling quite warm too, but monday looks quite wet. scotland and northern ireland will see showers or longer spells of rain, and it will be quite blustery, quite windy once again. so high teens, low 20s here, but very warm in the south east, up to 27 degrees.

you'll see, though, the cooler air and the showers start to filter their way southwards and eastwards. as we reach the end of the week, all areas will be cooler and showery.

live from london. this is bbc news. the uk government orders an independent inquiry, after a hospitalfailed to investigate allegations against lucy letby — the nurse found guilty of murdering seven newborn babies in her care. five people have been killed and nearly 40 injured in ukraine, after a russian missile strike on the city of chernihiv. and uk police investigating the murder of 10—year—old sara sharif, found dead in a house in the southeastern town of woking, say they want to speak to her father and two other people.

hello, i'm lukwesa burak. let's start with the latest in the lucy letby case. a video has emerged from 2014, of the former chief executive of the hospital, where lucy letby worked, tony chambers, offering support to whistleblowers. the video was recorded just a year before the nurse murdered herfirst victim. we have heard from a number of consultants at the hospital who say their warnings were ignored, while the trust's attitide to whistleblowers has caused concern in this case. i've got two pledges to make. the first is as a chief exec, i pledge to support a culture where the front line staff are supported in raising concerns. and more importantly, really listening to them when they do. the second pledge is to go back to my grassroots and spend the day