Lucy Letby was subjected to a “witch hunt” for rejecting the advances of a senior doctor, the public inquiry heard today.

The unnamed paediatrician’s alleged license was one of “many rumours” that circulated after the nurse was withdrawn from work at the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital in July 2016.

Letby, 34, was reassigned to an administrative role after the deaths of two triplet brothers in consecutive shifts.

Doctors on the unit noticed she was on duty when other babies collapsed or died unexpectedly and all seven senior consultants called on hospital bosses to remove her amid fears she was deliberately harming infants.

Lucy Letby was subjected to a “witch hunt” for rejecting the advances of a senior doctor, the public inquiry heard today.

The inquest heard that Letby was asked directly by senior manager Karen Rees (pictured), then the nursing director of urgent care at the Countess, whether Dr Brearey or Dr Ravi Jayaram, the senior consultant on the children’s ward, had ever a pass to them

But Letby was furious and shortly afterwards lodged a formal employment complaint with the Trust.

She also claimed she was harassed and bullied by Dr Stephen Brearey, the unit’s senior consultant. No evidence of wrongdoing by Letby was found and the complaint was upheld.

Annette Weatherley, a senior nurse at a neighboring hospital who was brought in to independently chair the complaint in December 2016, later told Cheshire Police that at the time she believed Letby was the victim of a “witch hunt “.

She told detectives: “The consultants do their own kind of investigation, whatever they did, whether they liked it or not, there were a lot of rumors going around.

Children’s nurse Lucy Letby (pictured in a custody photo, left; and while working at the hospital, right) went on a year-long killing spree while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital

“They decided she was, she was the baby killer. They were openly talking about her as the baby killer. They went to the Trust and said, “She’s the child killer, we don’t want her in the unit.”

When asked about the rumors specifically, Ms Weatherley told police: “There were rumors that she rejected a consultant who made it clear that he had an interest in her.”

An officer said, “What? physical?

Ms Weatherley replied: ‘Yes, physically. There was someone who told me that, I don’t remember who it was when I was there, but there was a rumor.

The inquest heard that Letby was asked directly by senior manager Karen Rees, then medical director of emergency care at the Countess, whether Dr Brearey or Dr Ravi Jayaram, the senior consultant on the children’s ward, had ever given a pass to her. Letby replied: “Absolutely not.”

Giving evidence today, Ms Weatherley told the inquest that the hospital’s executive team should have suspended Letby and called the police as soon as consultants raised the issue of the “perceived community” with Letby’s presence on duty when the children died.

Letby is currently serving 15 life sentences after being convicted of killing seven babies and attempting to kill seven more at Contessa between June 2015 and June 2016.

The inquiry, at Liverpool City Hall, is expected to run until January.