SCOTLAND’S Covid bereaved have hit out at “flippant” national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch after he admitted to deleting crucial pandemic WhatsApps.

Appearing before the British Covid-19 inquiry today, Mr Leitch was grilled for almost three hours by inquiry counsel Jamie Dawson KC, where he was repeatedly challenged on his role as an adviser and “principal communicator” during the pandemic, as well as his practice of deleting all WhatsApp messages.

Mr Leitch defended his remarks found in one recovered WhatsApp group that deleting messages was a “bedtime ritual.”