A panel of medics specialising in the care of newborn babies have claimed at a press conference that “no murders” were committed following the death of seven infants which saw nurse Lucy Letby convicted.
Letby, 35, from Hereford, was convicted of murdering the babies, and attempting to murder seven others, between June 2015 and June 2016. She was sentenced to 15 whole-life orders following a trial at Manchester Crown Court last year, and is expected to die in prison.
However, since she was found guilty, an online campaign has thrown the fairness of the trial, and the safety of her conviction, into question. The rumours have been criticised by the families of her victims, who described those behind the campaign as “hurtful and distasteful”.
At the conclusion of a press conference on Tuesday, February 4, Dr Shoo Lee, who co-wrote a 1989 academic paper on air embolism in babies, a cause of death some of her victims suffered, commented: “In summary then, ladies and gentlemen, we did not find murders. In all cases, death or injury were due to natural causes or just bad medical care.
“Lucy was charged with seven murders and seven attempted murders. In our opinion, the medical opinion, the medical evidence doesn’t support murder in any of these cases, just natural causes and bad medical care.”
Analysis carried out by a “blue riband committee” of 14 neonatologists was presented at the 70-minute press conference in London on Tuesday morning, chaired by Sir David Davis, who last week raised concerns in Parliament on behalf of Letby’s legal team.
The former Tory minister and MP for Goole and Pocklington, wants to see a retrial, believing she would be cleared of any criminal activity, reports the Mirror.
Letby was convicted of attacking and murdering babies by various methods while working as a nurse on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital. These included injecting air into the bloodstream, causing an air embolism which would block the blood supply and cause sudden and unexpected collapse.
Shortly before the press conference began, it was revealed that her lawyers had applied on Monday for her case to be investigated as a potential miscarriage of justice.
A spokesperson for the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the body that would be handling the investigation, said: “We are aware that there has been a great deal of speculation and commentary surrounding Lucy Letby’s case, much of it from parties with only a partial view of the evidence. We ask that everyone remembers the families affected by events at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
“We have received a preliminary application in relation to Ms Letby’s case, and work has begun to assess the application. We anticipate further submissions being made to us. It is not for the CCRC to determine innocence or guilt in a case, that’s a matter for the courts.
“It is for the CCRC to find, investigate and if appropriate, refer potential miscarriages of justice to the appellate courts when new evidence or new argument means there is a real possibility that a conviction will not be upheld, or a sentence reduced.
“At this stage it is not possible to determine how long it will take to review this application. A significant volume of complicated evidence was presented to the court in Ms Letby’s trials.
“The CCRC is independent. We do not work for the government, courts, police, the prosecution or for anyone applying for a review of their case. This helps us investigate alleged miscarriages of justice impartially.”
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Letby has lost two previous appeal bids against her convictions – one in May for seven murders and seven attempted murders, and another in October for the attempted murder of a baby girl, for which she was convicted of by a new jury during a retrial.
At the appeal in May, a bid to admit new evidence from Dr Shoo Lee was also denied, as three senior judges ruled there had been no expert evidence for the prosecution which diagnosed air embolus based purely on skin discolouration. Dr Lee has said he recently updated his paper and found no cases of skin discolouration connected to air embolism by the venous system.
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