Child killer Lucy Letby ‘plans to launch fresh appeal with new legal team’
The former nurse was convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of seven others
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Child serial killer Lucy Letby is planning to launch a third appeal with a new legal team, her barrister has revealed.
The former nurse was convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of seven others, with two attempts on one child, when she worked on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
After two trials, Letby is serving 15 whole-life sentences. She is only the fourth woman in UK history to be told she will never be released from prison.
In May, Letby lost her Court of Appeal bid to challenge her convictions from last year.
In the latest development, the BBC reported that her new barrister, Mark McDonald, told Radio 4’s File On 4 programme that he plans to make an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) for Letby’s case to be sent back to the Court of Appeal.
“I knew almost from the start, following this trial, that there is a strong case that she is innocent,” he told the programme. The fact is juries get it wrong. And yes, so do the Court of Appeal, history teaches us that.”
A public inquiry examining events at the Countess of Chester Hospital following Letby’s multiple convictions is due to begin on 10 September in Liverpool.
Earlier this week, the former Brexit secretary and Tory MP Sir David Davis, said he believes it is “highly probable” that Letby is innocent.
Sir David told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that several doctors had sent alternative diagnoses for every death Letby has been found guilty of.
Sir David said: “Firstly, you’re not taking on board all the extra deaths, you’ve picked out half that happened to fit the Lucy Letby shift schedule. About half the deaths were when she was not on duty.
“Point two is the expert evidence on how they died, where these children were murdered. Six out of seven of the children they picked had a post-mortem and the post-mortem had said natural causes in essence.
“I’ve had other neonatal doctors and specialists get in touch, one of them sent me an alternative diagnosis for every single death.”
Robert Rinder, a barrister and TV presenter, also expressed doubt about Letby’s guilt, suggesting there “appears to be a great deal to be concerned about in this case”.
His comments came after it was reported that the so-called confession notes Letby wrote, which were subsequently used by the prosecution to persuade the jury of her guilt, had been penned on the advice of counsellors to help her deal with extreme stress.
In the letters, Letby wrote that: “I am evil I did this” and “I killed them on purpose because I am not good enough to care for them and I am a horrible evil person.”
But she also wrote statements to the contrary, such as “I haven’t done anything wrong”.
Experts have since warned that such notes could not be used as a confession because extreme stress can cause people to say things that are not true. Letby was also writing the notes at a time when she was already suspected by some of her colleagues and was experiencing suicidal thoughts.
A private letter sent to the government last week by a group of experts, including neonatologists and statisticians, called for the inquiry to either be postponed or undergo a change in the terms of the procedure.
The experts said they had concerns about the way statistics and the science around newborn babies had been presented to the jury at Letby’s first trial.
The letter read: “While we acknowledge the gravity of the convictions against Ms Letby, our focus is on the broader implications for patient safety, healthcare management, and the potential for miscarriages of justice in complex medical cases,” the letter said.
“Our goal is not to relitigate the Letby case, but to ensure that the [inquiry] is positioned to conduct the most thorough and beneficial investigation possible for the future of neonatal care in the UK.”