The parents of a baby murdered by Lucy Letby have slammed a hospital boss who worked there as she set out to kill and claimed he has got a ‘get out of jail free’ card after retiring to a luxury house in the south of France with a £1.8million pension pot.
Ex-medical director at the Countess of Chester hospital Ian Harvey is one of several hospital bosses who have been accused of failing to heed senior consultants’ warnings about Letby and sudden deaths and collapses on the neo-natal unit.
Now the parents of one defenceless baby have told the Mirror: ‘Retiring should not be a get-out-of-jail-free card to distance himself from his failures to act.’
They added they are calling for a statutory public inquiry into Letby’s crimes, so they ‘get the answers we deserve’ – as police launch further probes into newborns under Letby’s care.
Mr Harvey, 65, took early retirement in 2018 shortly after Letby’s arrest and moved to the south of France with his wife, where they share a luxury home with its own pool and stables.
Former medical director of the Countess of Chester Hospital Ian Harvey is pictured enjoying his retirement at his sprawling French farmhouse with his wife Lesa
Lucy Letby, 33, (pictured) is to be the subject of an inquiry, which will investigate how she got away with her crimes for so long
Mr Harvey and his wife now live in a luxury farmhouse in the south of France
A former colleague of the £175,000-a-year director told the paper Mr Harvey’s hand was ‘forced’ by pediatricians who, after multiple warnings were ignored, threatened to call the police themselves if he did not do so.
They added that, upon asking him whether he thought there would be an inquiry after Letby’s arrest, he said: ‘They would have to find me first.’ He then moved 800 miles away to the Dordogne region.
Letby became the UK’s most prolific child serial killer after being sentenced on Monday to 14 whole life orders for the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six more – one of whom she tried to kill twice.
Mr Harvey, who has since said the consultants he is accused of ignoring did not follow up their concerns, is now living in a farmhouse with extensive outbuildings and several acres of land in the peace and tranquility of the countryside.
A friend of Mr Harvey told the Sun he had been gone from the area since last Sunday, with neighbours adding he never mentioned the case or his involvement in it to them.
One said: ‘I had heard about the case but only realised his connection when I read about it last week. He never mentioned it.
‘It’s a sad story for everybody connected, especially the parents of the children. Hopefully an inquiry may give them answers.’
Social media suggests they spend their time tending to their animals, hosting family, enjoying restaurants and taking weekend breaks at five-star hotels
Lucy Letby, pictured, was found to have killed seven children and tried to kill another six
Mr Harvey and his second wife, Lesa, 63, sold their £400,000 home in the village of Malpas in Cheshire when they decamped to the Dordogne, where they care for rescue horses.
Social media suggests they spend their time tending to their animals, hosting family, enjoying restaurants and taking weekend breaks at five-star hotels. But what should have been a peaceful retirement has been marred by the Letby scandal.
The GMC held a four-year ‘full investigation’ into Mr Harvey, liaised with police and obtained an independent expert report. According to a spokesman, the GMC ‘thoroughly examined all relevant information’ before concluding last year that the case did not reach the threshold for referral to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.
However, parents of a baby killed by Letby claimed they were ‘totally fobbed off’ by Mr Harvey when they pleaded for answers about what happened to their child.
Mr Harvey said he had wanted to give ‘detailed and accurate answers’ to the parents but ‘once the police were involved, we were advised by them not to do or say anything that might jeopardise the investigation’.
But solicitor Richard Scorer, head of abuse and public inquiries at Slater and Gordon, which is acting for two families, claims the parents contacted him several months before the police were called in.
Mr Scorer, Head of Abuse and Public Inquiries at Slater and Gordon, said: ‘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”.
‘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.’
Mr Harvey told MailOnline he is supportive of a public inquiry and intends to engage fully.
He said: ‘I am willing to be subjected to proper accountability and I will attend the public inquiry in person.
‘I will contribute fully, openly and honestly. I will do everything I can to help parents get the answers they deserve.’
The £175,000 a year medical boss was accused of fobbing off victims’ parents. He is now in a bitter war of words with other hospital executives and senior doctors over who is to blame for not stopping the killer nurse
The Countess of Chester Hospital where Letby went on a horrifying killing spree between June 2015 and 2016
Ian Harvey is handed a retirement gift in July 2018
In relation to allegations he had ignored doctors’ concerns, he added: ‘It has been alleged that the paediatricians informed me of their concerns in February 2016 but a meeting was not arranged until May 2016. I do not recall any such communication.
‘It is surprising, given the level of concern that some of the paediatricians professed to have had at the time, that there was no follow-up to chase a response, either with my secretary or with me.’
Cheshire Police has this week announced that it would be looking at the records of 4,000 babies admitted during her tenure as a nurse as part of Operation Hummingbird, the years-long probe that led to Letby’s conviction.
A source close to the investigation has claimed that the notes of a dozen babies who suffered unexplained collapses in hospital have been passed to experts.
All of the babies survived their close calls and none were implicated in Letby’s trial, which concluded last week after jurors heard 10 months of traumatic evidence in relation to the nurse’s horrendous crimes.
Letby carried out her murders and attempts on babies’ lives between June 2015 and June 2016 while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
However, she also undertook training at Liverpool Women’s Hospital between October and December 2012 and January and February 2015.
Admissions across both hospitals are being considered by detectives as part of Operation Hummingbird, which is now said to be in a ‘second phase’ after Letby’s convictions were secured.
WATCH THE MAIL’S LUCY LETBY DOCUMENTARY IN FULL HERE
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk