Background
Roger Hutton KC is a barrister practising at King’s Counsel level whose appointment as counsel to the Thirlwall Inquiry brought him to sustained public attention in connection with the Lucy Letby case. Counsel to the inquiry is the senior legal role responsible for the preparation of evidence, the examination of witnesses in the hearing sessions, and the framing of questions for the inquiry panel. The role requires not only advocacy skill but detailed command of a large and technically complex evidential record spanning clinical, managerial and regulatory materials.
Counsel to the Thirlwall Inquiry
The Thirlwall Inquiry was established under the Inquiries Act 2005 and chaired by Lady Justice Thirlwall. Its terms of reference required it to examine how Lucy Letby was able to harm babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital Neonatal Unit over a period of years, what information was available to those responsible for the unit and for hospital management, what response was made to concerns raised by medical staff, and what lessons should be drawn for the regulation and oversight of neonatal services. Hutton, as counsel to the inquiry, bore primary responsibility for putting questions to witnesses in the hearing sessions, drawing out the factual record through oral evidence, and testing the accounts given by witnesses against the documentary material in the inquiry’s evidence bundle.
Notable lines of questioning
Hutton’s questioning across the hearing sessions covered a wide range of evidential territory. In sessions with consultant paediatricians, his questioning addressed what clinical concerns were raised, when they were raised, how they were communicated to management, and what response those communications received. With executive and management witnesses, questioning focused on decision-making processes, the handling of information about mortality and morbidity rates on the neonatal unit, and the engagement — or lack of engagement — with external regulatory bodies. His approach has been characterised by observers of the inquiry as methodical and document-led, returning witnesses consistently to the contemporaneous record rather than relying on recollection. The questioning of witnesses about the timeline of managerial responses to consultant concerns has been among the most closely followed aspects of the inquiry hearings.
Read alongside
- Lady Justice Thirlwall — inquiry chair
- Dr Stephen Brearey — consultant paediatrician who raised concerns
- Tony Chambers — former Countess of Chester CEO
- Alison Kelly — former director of nursing
- Mark McLaughlin — Times Thirlwall Inquiry reporter
Source
Public statements, named-publication articles, Hansard / official records, and our own coverage where applicable.