What happens next following expert claim 'no babies were murdered' in Lucy Letby case
Lucy Letby's legal team are protesting her innocence as a medical expert has claimed there was 'no evidence of murder'.
The 35-year-old from Hereford is currently serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016.
Letby was working as a nurse on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital at the time.
Letby has tried to appeal her convictions twice now and lost both bids. However, her legal team have now applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission to investigate her case as a potential miscarriage of justice.
Advert
Medical panel claim there was 'no murder'
Retired medic Dr Shoo Lee, along with a panel of 14 experts, has today (4 February) presented alleged new findings in the form of an 'impartial evidence-based report'.
They claim to have examined the 17 cases which Letby's prosecution centred on and had put together the report to submit to Letby's barrister later this month.
In a 70-minute press conference, Dr Lee said: “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.”
Dr Lee claimed the team examined each case and commented on an allegation against Letby that she injected air into a pre-term boy, who collapsed two days after being born.
"In the cases where air was injected in the veins there was no cases of patchy skin discolouration," he said.
"So the notion that these babies can be diagnosed with air embolism because they collapsed and had these skin dis-colourations has no evidence in fact."
He also claimed that baby four, who was born full-term by emergency caesarean section, was not a stable baby.
“The allegation is that baby four was a stable baby after the baby was born and admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit,” Dr Lee added.
“Then on day three of life the baby suddenly collapsed, and that this was due to injection of air through the intravenous system causing air embolism, resulting in patchy discolouration of the skin and death.
“I would like to just repeat what I said earlier, that there is no evidence that air embolism through the veins results in patchy discussion of the skin.
“So let’s just dismiss that, that’s not a consideration.”
He claimed that the birth of baby four after 'prolonged, premature rupture of membranes' caused an infection.
“The mother did not receive antibiotics. Second, there were important delays in the admission, diagnosis and treatment of the baby after the baby was born,” the doctor added.
“This was not a stable baby, as alleged by the prosecution witness, and in fact, this baby continued to deteriorate for the next few days until final collapse with worsening symptoms of infection as we went along.”
The prosecution's medical case was examined by the Court of Appeal in May and found to be safe.
What will happen now in Letby's case?
Letby's case will be reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice.
The CCRC will examine if there is new evidence in the case which could give a reasonable chance of Letby's conviction being overturned.
A CCRC spokesperson 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.”
Anish Vij