Lucy Letby: medical experts claim she did not murder babies
Convictions of former nurse Lucy Letby challenged as a major injustice by MP at a news conference where medical experts questioned the prosecution's evidence
The convictions of child serial killer Lucy Letby have been labelled as ‘one of the major injustices of modern times’ as her legal team continued its campaign to protest her innocence.
Former nurse Letby is serving 15 whole-life orders after being convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire.
Retired neonatologist Shoo Lee presented the findings of a panel of 14 experts who had compiled an ‘impartial evidence-based report’.
Dr Lee co-authored an academic paper in 1989 on air embolism in babies, which was used in Letby’s trial to help convict her.
Expert panel finds baby deaths or injuries were due to natural causes or poor medical care
Addressing the news conference, Dr Lee said that the panel’s thoughts were with the families of the babies who died. ‘We understand their stress and their anguish, and our work is not meant to cause more distress.'
He criticised the care provided at the Countess of Chester Hospital, saying the panel did not 'find any murders' in any of the cases.
He added: ‘In all cases, death or injury were due to natural causes or just bad medical care.’
Sir David Davis MP, a former cabinet minister, said several people, mainly nurses, had contacted him after Letby’s trial to say they had been too afraid to come forward because ‘they’ve seen what’s happened to whistleblowers in the health service historically’.
Letby case will now be reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission
Letby lost two bids last year to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeal – in May for seven murders and seven attempted murders, and October for the attempted murder of a baby girl which she was convicted of by a different jury at a retrial.
At the first of those appeals, a bid to admit fresh evidence from Dr Lee was rejected as three senior judges concluded there had been no prosecution expert evidence diagnosing air embolism solely based on skin discolouration.
Dr Lee said he has recently updated his academic paper and found no cases of skin discolouration linked to air embolism by the venous system.
The case will now be reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, after Letby’s lawyers made a preliminary application to the body on 3 February.
Prosecution expert at Letby trial calls concerns about his evidence ‘unsubstantiated, unfounded, inaccurate’
The CCRC said it could not determine how long it would take to review the application, and anticipated further submissions being made to it.
In December, Letby’s barrister Mark McDonald said he would also seek permission from the Court of Appeal to apply to reopen her case on the grounds that Dewi Evans, the lead prosecution medical expert at her trial, was ‘not reliable’.
Retired consultant paediatrician Dr Evans said concerns regarding his evidence were ‘unsubstantiated, unfounded, inaccurate’.
A public inquiry into how Letby committed her crimes is also under way, and detectives from Cheshire Constabulary are continuing their review of the care of some 4,000 babies admitted to the Countess of Chester and another hospital hospital where she worked as a neonatal nurse.
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