Lucy Letby - Project Countess

The Trial

The Crime Desk

True Crime

4.2 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2026

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode Caroline and Liz sit down with Dr Susan Gilby in her first interview since she was awarded £1.4 million from the NHS. Dr Gilby was appointed CEO of the Countess of Chester Hospital just after Lucy Letby was arrested, but she was then forced to resign. And then she discovered a secret plot named Project Countess had been set up to get rid of her. It's an extraordinary interview about whistleblowing, conspiracy and the shocking waste of tax payers money.

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Presenters: Caroline Cheetham and Liz Hull

Producer: Sam Morris

Creative Director: Caroline Cheetham

Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The Crime Desk. Arresting Podcasts.
0:05.1	Welcome to the Trial UK. I'm Caroline Cheatham.
0:17.5	And I'm Liz Hull.
0:18.8	As promised from yesterday, today we're bringing you that interview with
0:24.5	Susan Gilby, Dr. Susan Gilby, a former intensive care doctor and CEO of the Countess of Chester
0:32.0	Hospital. She was brought in to the Countess of Chester initially as the medical director,
0:38.7	literally at the same time that Lucy Lettby was arrested, within seven weeks she had become the CEO as things were changing
0:45.1	at the top of the organisation. And what she tells us, Liz, is what then happened to her
0:50.1	when a new chairman came in. It's a story of conspiracy and of bullying and also significantly,
0:59.5	relating to our conversation yesterday really about Lucy Lettby, also of whistleblowing.
1:04.5	Yeah, so she talks really openly and, I mean, we said she's brave, but she probably wouldn't
1:10.7	say she was brave, but it's been a three-year ordeal for her to get to, we said she's brave, but she wouldn't, she probably wouldn't say she was
1:11.1	brave. But it's been a three-year ordeal for her to get to this stage. And she talks about how
1:15.9	initially she thought things were going quite well. She was putting, she was making changes. And
1:20.5	she kind of steered the organisation through the pandemic. And then this new chairman, a man called
1:27.2	Ian Hathornthwawait, was appointed as the chairman
1:30.9	of the hospital board. And that's when things start to go wrong. And for reasons that I think
1:37.2	she's still slightly baffled by their relationship just never seemed to work. And he conspired to get rid of her. And eventually she did resign and then
1:49.6	took the organisation to an employment tribunal for constructive dismissal. Yeah. I mean,
1:55.5	what you're going to hear is the story of leadership really at the top in chaos, people involved in this conspiracy,
2:04.6	spending a lot of time, a lot of hours to try and get out the CEO at the same time that
2:10.7	Lucy Lettby was on trial for several murders and attempted murders.
	...

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