A boss at the hospital where Lucy Letby murdered babies has said he “sincerely regrets” not calling police sooner and is “truly sorry” if he failed the bereaved families. Ian Harvey, a former medical director at the Countess of Chester hospital, told the Thirlwall inquiry he wished he had contacted the police nearly a year before they were informed. Beginning his evidence at Liverpool town hall on Thursday, Harvey said: “I am sorry for the hurt that has been caused to the parents and the families of the babies. I extend that to the parents of the babies who were subject of the reviews but didn’t feature in the trial and aren’t part of this inquiry.” He added: “It was only ever my desire to have a safe hospital and to be able to tell the parents what happened on the neonatal unit and if I failed in those aims I’m truly sorry.” The inquiry, chaired by Lady Justice Thirlwall, is examining events surrounding the murder of seven babies and attempted murder of seven others by Letby between June 2015 and June 2016. Speaking for the first time about the case, Harvey said he should have contacted the police after the death of two newborn triplets – the nurse’s final two victims – at the end of June 2016, 10 months before detectives were informed. “I am aware from all the documentation that in June, July 2016 I had expressed an opinion that we should approach the police and I sincerely regret that we didn’t at that time,” he told the inquiry. Harvey, who took early retirement weeks before Letby was arrested in 2018, said he was “not comfortable” with the 10-month delay although he could “understand why we did what we did”. He said: “I’m not convinced, based on the communications and conversations we had with police nearly a year later, that they would necessarily have acted at that point. But I have to accept that there would have been potential for oversight or advice with regard to the reviews we undertook, and the possibility that they could have stepped in sooner should something have been found.” The parents of babies murdered by Letby have accused Harvey and other bosses of being “complicit” in her crimes by failing to inform them there were concerns that their children had been harmed. The former medical director and fellow executives have also been accused of a lack of transparency with regulators for failing to inform the Care Quality Commission about the rise in neonatal mortality during its inspection in February 2016. Asked by Rachel Langdale KC, the counsel to the inquiry, whether he believed he had failed in his aims of being open with parents and overseeing a safe hospital, Harvey said: “I think the simple fact that there was an increase in mortality is an indication that we got things wrong. I think I’ve made clear in my statement that I failed in my communication to the families in the nature and the quality of the information that they were given.” Letby was removed from the neonatal unit in July 2016 after the deaths of the triplet brothers, known in court as Child O and Child P. Executives were told at this time that consultant paediatricians suspected Letby had murdered babies and referred during meetings to other medical killers, Harold Shipman and Beverley Allitt. Harvey accepted that three reviews he commissioned in the weeks after Letby’s removal were not sufficient as they were unable to detect whether any crime had been committed. “I accept they didn’t go to the level of a forensic investigation and in hindsight that was incorrect,” he said. The inquiry heard that Tony Chambers, the hospital’s chief executive, went on to tell the hospital’s board of directors that the allegations against Letby were unsubstantiated based on these reviews. The board of directors agreed on this basis that she could return to the neonatal unit, although she never did. Peter Skelton KC, representing the families of several of Letby’s victims, said it was an “extraordinary failure” that Harvey had allowed the board to sign off the nurse’s return to the unit even though the reviews had not excluded deliberate harm. “I believe I was making these statements in good faith based on the evidence I had at that time,” Harvey said. Skelton said it was “irresponsible and dangerous” to return Letby to the unit because he could not be confident that she would not harm children again. “I would have to accept that with retrospect that it would have been a risk – well, more of a risk – for her to go back on to the unit,” Harvey said. Harvey will continue his evidence on Friday.