Crime02 September, 20262 min read
Mark Deakin Named After Court Lifts Anonymity Over Lucy Letby Trial
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Mark Deakin, 53, died after being sacked for messages with Letby. He worked with Letby at Countess of Chester Hospital during 2015-2016 murders.
Deakin named after death
A doctor described as Lucy Letby’s “boyfriend” at her trial, Mark Deakin, 53, has been named for the first time after reporting restrictions were lifted following his death in July. The BBC said Deakin “worked alongside Letby” at the Countess of Chester Hospital during the period in which Letby murdered seven babies and attempted to murder six others in 2015 and 2016.
“Mark Deakin, who died in July aged 53, had been protected by a court anonymity order that has now been lifted.”
The Telegraph reported that Deakin was found collapsed in his car in June, one day after he was dismissed from Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, and that he died nine days later on July 3. The Telegraph also said the anonymity order was lifted by the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, and that an inquest into how he died will take place in February 2027.
Texts, confidentiality, dismissal
The Daily Mirror said Deakin lost his job at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital for exchanging messages with Letby about a child she was later convicted of trying to murder, and it reported that he was found collapsed in his car the day after he was dismissed.
The Daily Mail reported that Deakin was hauled before a disciplinary hearing in June over a series of inappropriate texts he exchanged with Letby while they worked together at the Countess of Chester Hospital, and that the messages breached patient confidentiality.
The BBC said the Thirlwall inquiry heard that the pair had exchanged more than 1,000 Facebook messages and that Deakin helped Letby secure a placement at Alder Hey hospital after she was suspected of murdering babies.
The Telegraph added that during the trial it emerged Letby and Deakin had exchanged 1,355 Facebook messages, and it quoted a message in which Letby asked about the condition of Child N and Deakin replied: “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.”
Inquiry findings and review
The BBC said Deakin told the Thirlwall Inquiry that he had been “misled” and “maybe manipulated” by Letby and that he was tricked into giving her information about the babies she had attacked. The Telegraph reported that Deakin said it was a “massive mistake” to have helped the nurse, who he had believed was struggling with her mental health and suffering from anxiety, and it quoted his apology: “I wasn’t aware of the full clinical picture and I provided support by being misled and maybe manipulated, and for that, I’m really sorry that things have come to the end as they have.”
“I wasn’t aware of the full clinical picture and I provided support by being misled and maybe manipulated, and for that, I’m really sorry that things have come to the end as they have.”
The BBC said Letby is serving 15 whole life prison terms and that the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is conducting a review of Letby’s convictions. The Telegraph said the inquiry has concluded and its final report will be published in September, and it also reported that a panel of 14 world experts in neonatology produced a report concluding there were no murders, only prematurity and poor care.