Operation Hummingbird opens — Allitt frame established from day one

Cheshire Police open Operation Hummingbird under former DCS Nigel Wenham. The anonymous 150-page Hummingbird whistleblower report published in December 2025 documents that the investigation was framed from its May 2017 opening by explicit analogy to the Beverley Allitt case. A 'suspect-first' rather than 'cluster-first' model is adopted, with consequences for how evidence is subsequently weighted.