LUCY LETBY MESSAGED DR MARK DEAKIN ABOUT BABY N AFTER THE INFANT COLLAPSED — BUT ONE QUESTION SHE ASKED HAS TAKEN ON A MUCH DARKER MEANING

Lucy Letby did not simply ask how Baby N was doing. According to evidence heard by the Thirlwall Inquiry, she also asked Dr Mark Deakin whether she had done anything wrong — a question that has taken on a chilling significance because of what prosecutors later alleged had happened to the infant.

Baby N was one of the infants involved in the case against Letby.

He suffered a series of sudden deteriorations in June 2016, and Letby was later convicted of attempting to murder him.

At the time, however, Dr Mark Deakin was a trusted colleague — and someone Letby had become unusually close to while they worked together at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Then came the message.

“HAD I DONE ANYTHING WRONG?”

After Baby N’s condition deteriorated, Letby contacted Deakin.

She asked about the infant’s condition.

But according to evidence later presented to the Thirlwall Inquiry, she also asked whether she had done anything wrong in relation to his care.

Deakin replied reassuringly.

He told her:

“Oh Lucy, poor little thing. I am sure he has had the best care possible and you will have done everything you could for him.”

At the time, the exchange appeared to be a conversation between two hospital colleagues.

Years later, however, the same words were examined in an entirely different context.

THE DOCTOR WHO DIDN’T KNOW THE FULL PICTURE

Deakin later told the inquiry that he believed he was trying to support Letby.

But looking back, he accepted that he had shared too much information about patients.

Asked whether the exchange was appropriate, he said that in hindsight, it was not.

He acknowledged that he had provided clinical details because he believed they would be helpful, but later realised that this was a mistake.

He also told the inquiry that Letby had “misled and maybe manipulated” him into providing information about babies who had deteriorated while they were working together.

The pair exchanged 1,355 Facebook messages between June and September 2016.

Some involved babies who had suddenly become unwell.

Others were about their personal lives and relationship.

THEIR RELATIONSHIP CAME UNDER SCRUTINY

Deakin was known publicly during Letby’s criminal trial only as “Dr A.”

He was granted anonymity at the time.

That anonymity was lifted in September 2026 following his death, allowing his identity to be reported for the first time.

During Letby’s trial, prosecutors portrayed the relationship as unusually close and suggested that Letby had developed a strong emotional attachment to the married doctor.

Police later found handwritten notes at Letby’s home referring to her feelings for him.

Letby denied that they were romantically involved and described Deakin as a trusted friend.

But the messages between them became part of the evidence surrounding their relationship.

AND THEN CAME THE ALDER HEY CONTROVERSY

The story did not end with the messages.

After Letby was removed from frontline duties at the Countess of Chester Hospital, Deakin later helped arrange observational visits for her at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

By that point, concerns had already been raised by senior clinicians about Letby’s possible connection to the cluster of infant collapses and deaths.

Alder Hey subsequently investigated Deakin’s conduct.

The investigation examined, among other issues, whether he had known about the concerns surrounding Letby when he arranged the visits and whether he had improperly accessed Baby N’s medical records.

He was eventually dismissed for gross misconduct in June 2026.

ONE MESSAGE, YEARS OF QUESTIONS

The significance of the Baby N message cannot be separated from the later court findings.

Letby remains convicted of attempting to murder Baby N.

At the same time, Deakin’s message itself was not a finding that Letby had harmed the child. It was written at a time when he said he did not know the full clinical picture and believed he was reassuring a colleague.

That distinction matters.

But the question remains striking:

Why did Letby ask whether she had done anything wrong?

At the time, it may have seemed like an anxious nurse seeking reassurance.

After the later investigation and conviction, the same question inevitably reads very differently.

And that is precisely why the exchange became such an important moment when Dr Deakin finally gave evidence to the inquiry.

A message that once looked ordinary had become part of a much darker story.