Child killer Lucy Letby hires new legal team ahead of fresh appeal after conviction for murder of 7 newborn babies
09/06/2024 02:47 AM
CONVICTED child killer Lucy Letby has hired a new legal team ahead of a fresh appeal, her barrister says.
Neonatal nurse Letby was convicted of the murders of seven babies on her unit and the attempted murders of seven others.
Letby was found guilty of carrying out the crimes between June 2015 and June 2016, when she worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
She is serving 15 whole-life orders after two trials – making her only the fourth woman in UK history to be told she will die behind bars.
In May, Letby lost her Court of Appeal bid to challenge her convictions from last year.
Her barrister Mark McDonald has now said he plans to make an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
The application will argue that Letby’s case should be sent back to the Court of Appeal.
McDonald told the BBC: “I knew almost from the start, following this trial, that there is a strong case that she is innocent.
“The fact is juries get it wrong. And yes, so does the Court of Appeal – history teaches us that.”
A public inquiry probing events at the Countess of Chester Hospital following Letby’s convictions will begin next Tuesday in Liverpool.
It comes after neonatal expert Dr Michael Hall said he was “troubled” by Letby’s case.
Hall told The Times: “I would have given different answers to those given by the prosecution’s medical expert witnesses,.
“And I would have given different interpretations for some of the cases.
“That’s not to say that I know all the answers, or that I know that Lucy Letby is innocent.”
He added: “There were certainly some events which were difficult to explain.”
Hall disagreed with expert witnesses for the prosecution who testified some babies had been “completely stable” before their deaths.
He argued most of the evidence was “circumstantial” and the case was presented with “little forensic evidence”.
Seven consultants who worked alongside Letby are convinced she was deliberately harming newborns.
The consultants reportedly have more than 100 years of combined experience.
But there are some experts who question the evidence on which Letby was convicted.
Leiden University statistician Professor Richard Gill has previously argued Letby is innocent.
Prof Gill has provided evidence that saw two other nurses convicted of murdering their patients freed from prison.
The Cambridge-educated statistician, 72, told The Sun: "I'd bet you a million to one she's innocent.
“If she reads this article, my message to Lucy is, 'It may take us a while but we're going to get you out'.”
NHS consultant neonatologist Dr Svilena Dimitrova said: "The theories proposed in court were not plausible.
“The prosecution was full of medical inaccuracies. I wasn't there, so I can't say Letby was innocent, but I can see no proof of guilt.”
‘REAL QUESTIONS’
Ex-Cabinet minister and renowned civil liberties campaigner Sir David Davis also believes there are "real questions about the evidence".
Sir David spent the summer analysing the case and said he will ask to visit Letby in prison.
He told The Sun: “Like most people, I thought this woman killed seven kids and she should go to prison for ever.
“After I raised the matter in the House, I had a number of people contacting me expressing their concerns about the trial evidence.”
The former Brexit secretary added: “And they weren't conspiracy theorists.
“This was the past president of the Royal Statistical Society, a professor of neonatology, a professor of forensic medicine, a couple of lawyers and so on.
“So really very serious people, not cranks, and probably better qualified than some of those who took part in the trial.”
At Letby's first trial a crucial document relating to working rotas at the Countess of Chester Hospital was placed before the jury.
The chart showed 25 suspicious deaths and collapses matched against the shift rota of the 38 nurses who worked on the unit.
Most nurses had just a handful of crosses on the graph where they had been on duty during the incidents.
Only Letby was at the scene for every death and collapse, the document appeared to show.
Yet expert statisticians now say the document was flawed as evidence.
They said the chart did not include other deaths and collapses during the same period and covers far too narrow a period of time.
UCL stats prof John O'Quigley said: “In my opinion there was nothing out of the ordinary statistically in the spike in deaths.
“All the shift chart shows is that when Letby was on duty, Letby was on duty.”
The charges Letby has been convicted of in full
Child A, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby injected air intravenously into the bloodstream of the baby boy. COUNT 1 GUILTY.
Child B, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby attempted to murder the baby girl, the twin sister of Child A, by injecting air into her bloodstream. COUNT 2 GUILTY.
Child C, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said Letby forced air down a feeding tube and into the stomach of the baby boy. COUNT 3 GUILTY.
Child D, allegation of murder. The Crown said air was injected intravenously into the baby girl. COUNT 4 GUILTY.
Child E, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby murdered the twin baby boy with an injection of air into the bloodstream and also deliberately caused bleeding to the infant. COUNT 5 GUILTY.
Child F, allegation of attempted murder. Letby was said by prosecutors to have poisoned the twin brother of Child E with insulin. COUNT 6 GUILTY.
Child G, three allegations of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby targeted the baby girl by overfeeding her with milk and pushing air down her feeding tube. COUNT 7 GUILTY, COUNT 8 GUILTY, COUNT 9 NOT GUILTY.
Child H, two allegations of attempted murder. Prosecutors said Letby sabotaged the care of the baby girl in some way which led to two profound oxygen desaturations. COUNT 10 NOT GUILTY, COUNT 11 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child I, allegation of murder. The prosecution said Letby killed the baby girl at the fourth attempt and had given her air and overfed her with milk. COUNT 12 GUILTY.
Child J, allegation of attempted murder. No specific form of harm was identified by the prosecution but they said Letby did something to cause the collapse of the baby girl. COUNT 13 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child K, allegation of attempted murder. The prosecution said Letby compromised the baby girl as she deliberately dislodged a breathing tube. COUNT 14 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICTAT ORIGINAL TRIAL, NOW GUILTYAFTER RETRIAL
Child L, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said the nurse poisoned the twin baby boy with insulin. COUNT 15 GUILTY.
Child M, allegation of attempted murder. Prosecutors said Letby injected air into the bloodstream of Child L’s twin brother. COUNT 16 GUILTY.
Child N, three allegations of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby inflicted trauma in the baby boy’s throat and also injected him with air in the bloodstream. COUNT 17 GUILTY, COUNT 18 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT, COUNT 19 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child O, allegation of murder. Prosecutors say Letby attacked the triplet boy by injecting him with air, overfeeding him with milk and inflicting trauma to his liver with “severe force”. COUNT 20 GUILTY.
Child P, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said the nurse targeted the triplet brother of Child O by overfeeding him with milk, injecting air and dislodging his breathing tube. COUNT 21 GUILTY.
Child Q, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby injected the baby boy with liquid, and possibly air, down his feeding tube. COUNT 22 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
