Letby, now 35, is serving 15 whole life sentences for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others – including one she attacked twice.
Her trial lasted for more than 10 months and is believed to be the longest murder trial in the UK.
“She has been convicted on 15 separate counts following two separate jury trials. In May, the Court of Appeal dismissed Letby’s leave to appeal on all grounds – rejecting her argument that expert prosecution evidence was flawed.”
Retired medic Dr Shoo Lee, who co-authored a 1989 academic paper on air embolism in babies, presented the findings of a panel of 14 experts who said they had compiled an “impartial evidence-based report”.
Here, The i Paper takes a look at five key pieces of evidence outlined in the press conference.
The allegation against Letby was that she injected air into his veins causing his collapse and death.
He told the press conference: “In the cases where air was injected in the veins there was no cases of patchy skin discolouration. So the notion that these babies can be diagnosed with air embolism because they collapsed and had these skin discolourations has no evidence in fact.”
Dr Shoo Lee gestures as he speaks during a press conference to present new evidence regarding the safety of the convictions of former nurse, Lucy Letby (Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images)“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 said.
“I would like to just repeat…that there is no evidence that air embolism through the veins results in patchy discolouration of the skin.”
2 – Baby nine’s death was ‘preventable’
The baby had a number of problems with their lungs, including chronic lung disease and episodes of apnoea, he said.
Dr Lee told the press conference that the air found in the baby’s system was likely introduced by resuscitation attempts when the baby had a severe episode of apnoea before their death.
“This was likely a preventable death,” he said.
“It says that the consultant didn’t know what he was doing.
(left to right) Professor Neena Modi, barrister Mark McDonald, Sir David Davis MP and retired medic Dr Shoo Lee (Photo: Ben Whitley/PA Wire)
“So there is actually a statement from another nurse saying that the alarms were not off. They were actually working. Perhaps the consultant just didn’t hear them?
4 – ‘Traumatic delivery’ caused death of baby 15
Turning to baby 15, Dr Lee said it is “nothing but conjecture” to say air was injected through the baby’s intravenous system or through a nasogastric tube – as Letby was found guilty of doing at trial.
The haematoma was “highly likely” formed as a result of “extremely rapid delivery” during birth, Dr Lee told journalists.
“Baby 15 died from a subcapsular liver haematoma, caused by traumatic delivery, resulting in haemorrhage into the peritoneal cavity and profound shock,” Dr Lee said.
5 – Hospital under fire with ‘no evidence of murder’
“There was no medical evidence to support malfeasance causing death or injury in any of the 17 cases in the trial.
Lucy Letby giving evidence during her trial at Manchester Crown Court (Photo: Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire)
“There were serious problems related to medical care of patients at this hospital.”
Dr Lee, a retired medic from Canada, added: “I would say if this was a hospital in Canada, it would be shut down.”
What could this mean for Letby?
Lucy Letby’s case will be reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, after her lawyers made an application to the body on Monday.
If the CCRC feels evidence presented to them by Davis’s expert panel and Letby’s legal team is sufficient to raise the prospect of her conviction being overturned or her sentence reduced, then Mr McDonald could score a significant legal victory.
To launch a fresh appeal, the CCRC needs “something important like strong new evidence or an argument that makes the case look different now”.
There is still no guarantee the Court of Appeal in that instance will rule in Letby’s favour, particularly with the court having already blocked the convicted killer in October from directly appealing a single one of her convictions.
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 in 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 embolus solely on the basis of skin discolouration.
A CCRC spokesperson said: “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.”
They added: “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.”
The Thirlwall Inquiry
A public inquiry into how Letby was able to get away with her crimes for so long is currently being led by Lady Justice Thirlwall.
At the opening of the hearing, Justice Thirlwall said the Court of Appeal ruling which upheld Letby’s convictions should have been a “watershed” moment in the case.
However, since then there has been an “outpouring of comment from a variety of quarters on the validity of the convictions.
“As far as I am aware it has come entirely from people who were not at the trial. Parts of some of the evidence have been selected and criticised, as has been the conduct of the defence at trial, about which those lawyers can say nothing,” said Lady Justice Thirlwall.
“All of this noise has caused enormous additional distress to the families who have already suffered far too much.
“I make it absolutely clear, it is not for me as chair of this inquiry to set about reviewing the convictions. The Court of Appeal has done that with a very clear result. The convictions stand.”
Countess of Chester Hospital’s chief executive Jane Tomkinson told the Thirlwall Inquiry last month that significant changes and improvements have been made at the hospital since Letby’s crimes and the case would be “handled completely differently from ward to board” today.
Findings from the inquiry are expected to be published in the autumn.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( All the ‘new evidence’ questioning killer nurse Lucy Letby’s guilt )
Also on site :
- ALM vs GGL Dream11 Prediction Today Match, Dream11 Team Today, Fantasy Cricket Tips, Playing XI, Pitch Report, Injury Update- Kuwait T10 Challengers League 2025, Match 32
- Hamas executes Palestinians for looting as desperation grows under Israeli blockade
- South Sacramento standoff ends with suspect surrendering to SWAT officers