An English judge has issued a scathing report blaming dysfunctional management for failing to protect babies at the hospital where nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering seven infants.

Lawyers for convicted baby killer Lucy Letby and former executives at the hospital where she worked have asked a judge to halt an inquiry into the deaths after a panel of medical experts found no evidence of a crime.

An inquiry into an English hospital where a neonatal nurse was convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to kill seven others has begun as her supporters push to clear her name.