An internal report in 2016 originally found its staff had done nothing wrong and that an infection had led to Harriet’s death. “There were no infectious agents there, the post-mortem showed that,” says Jack. “The cover up is extraordinary.”

They complained about the report, which led to an external review, but the couple claim that was also compromised. It was led by a Birmingham midwife who, during the course of the so-called external review, was herself hired as the chief midwife at Nottingham University Hospital. The Hawkins discovered that she had changed the wording in the draft report to water down its conclusions, replacing, “the following directly contributed to Harriet’s death”, with, “the following shortcomings in care might have been prevented…”

They also learnt that there were things missing from Sarah’s notes and had to use evidence from her phone bills to push back on claims the hospital made, such as that the time between Sarah’s contractions had been too long to ask her to come in.

The external review, published in December 2017, found 13 failings by the maternity staff and concluded Harriet’s death was “almost certainly preventable”. It blamed a “poor safety culture, a “lack of leadership”, and a “lack of governance in relation to reporting serious clinical incidents.”

Harriet’s body was kept in the hospital mortuary for two years during the investigation and so the family had to wait to hold her funeral. To this day, anger drowns out their sorrow.  

“I don’t think we were able to grieve at all,” says Sarah. “I get loads of flashbacks and remember every single thing about that room – the clock, the lights.”

For Jack, it’s the clinical setting. “I really struggle with hospital beds now,” he says. “I remember you in the bed, holding you, holding myself, just feeling awful.”

Neither has been able to return to work. “Even the thought of putting on a uniform gave me flashbacks,” says Sarah. The Trust terminated Jack’s contract at Queen’s Medical Centre, a hospital within Nottingham University Hospital Trust, at the end of 2017 and initially said it would pay Sarah until two weeks after Harriet’s funeral. After a lawyer’s intervention they continued to do so until the case had been settled.

A fortnight ago, Sarah and Jack set up a Facebook group for other parents whose babies have been harmed or died in the Trust’s maternity unit. “We’ve got 56 members already,” says Sarah. “The worrying thing is there will be people out there who don’t know. If we weren’t clinical we’d have thought, ‘that’s really sad she died of an infection’.”

From 2010 to 2020, 46 babies have suffered brain damage and 19 were stillborn at hospitals in Nottingham, a Channel 4 News investigation found. There have been 34 investigations into the Trust’s maternity unit following adverse incidents since 2018, according to the BBC.

Others are already bringing civil cases, but Sarah and Jack want to bring the families together and campaign for a public inquiry. Over sixty families have come forward for a Clinical Commissioning Group review, which is underway. The Trust admitted to failing to investigate 35 similar cases to Harriet’s from 2014 to 2017, following external review.

Baker believes the true number of babies who have died is far higher. She has heard from over 45 families who had stillbirths or neonatal deaths, and her firm is representing 27 of them.

“An obstetric anaesthetist from the Trust told me he stayed on beyond his retirement to make sure his daughter was looked after properly when she gave birth there,” says Baker. “It’s the same errors being made over and over. The last case I’m aware of was an incident at the beginning of this November, so it’s still happening.”

A Care Quality Commission report on the two maternity units at Nottingham University Hospital Trust this year found the services to be “inadequate”.

A spokesperson for Nottingham University Hospitals said, “We are truly sorry we failed Mr and Mrs Hawkins and baby Harriet in the care delivered in 2016 and that we did not learn quickly enough from our mistakes.” They added that they are fully cooperating with the Independent Maternity Review. “We are committed to learning from our mistakes and, with the support of our dedicated staff, once again making our maternity service one we can be proud of,” they said.

Nottingham isn’t the only area with problems. “It’s popping up all over the place,” says Baker. “There are things brewing in Doncaster and Basildon. There needs to be more money for doctors, midwives and training. They need to notice when things are going wrong and intervene.”

In other major scandals, 12 mothers and 40 babies died at Shrewsbury and Telford, while 15 babies died in East Kent.

When we speak over Zoom, Sarah and Jack’s two-year-old daughter shouts, “Daddy, Daddy!” just off screen and he breaks off to build a puzzle with her.

The Hawkins saved and borrowed from family to have Lottie privately in the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital in London, where the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth. But the pain is still very much with them.

“Every stage that Lottie goes through I’m grieving that I didn’t get that for Harriet,” says Sarah. “I feel like Lottie’s innocence is being stolen. How do we not pass our trauma onto her?”

“I cry quite often,” adds Jack. “Particularly at Christmas, knowing that her six-year-old sister should be here teasing her that Santa doesn’t exist. Poor Harriet, she didn’t deserve that.”