Lucy Letby’s lawyer, Mark McDonald, has announced that the killer nurse’s legal team will be holding a press conference to give details of ‘fresh developments’ in the case
Lucy Letby’s appeal team is due to announce “new evidence” today which they claim significantly undermines her convictions for murdering babies.
Barrister Mark McDonald, representing the killer nurse, is expected to give details of “fresh developments” in the case during a press conference. Letby, 34, was convicted in two separate trials of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven others who were under her care at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
“There will be a press conference by the legal defence team for Lucy Letby to announce fresh developments on the case,” Mr McDonald said in a statement. “At the conference wie will also be announcing new evidence, which significantly undermines the convictions.”
Mr McDonald said he has met more than 50 experts, covering neonatology, pathology and statistics, who are willing to help Letby challenge the convictions. At the end of her first trial, Letby was sentenced to multiple whole-life terms, meaning she will spend the rest of her life in prison.
Two separate applications to appeal against her convictions have been denied. Mr McDonald said in September that he plans to take her case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, to apply for it 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 said. “The fact is juries get it wrong. And yes, so do the Court of Appeal, history teaches us that.”
Experts have previously raised questions about the amount of insulin Letby needed to harm babies in her care, the health condition of one of the babies she was convicted of murdering, and pathology findings presented to the jury. It emerged after the trials that door swipe data used to place various doctors and nurses at the scene of baby collapses and deaths was flawed.
Details of reviews carried out by the hospital and experts which failed to find any evidence of foul play were not presented to the juries. Nor did either trial hear that the baby unit had suffered from overcrowding and understaffing and was hit by an outbreak of the bug pseudomonas.
The press conference comes as a public inquiry into events at the Countess of Chester Hospital – headed by Lady Justice Thirlwall – is taking a break to resume in the New Year. Detectives have interviewed Letby under caution in prison over more deaths and incidents where babies suffered “serious harm”, it was revealed last week. Her crimes were uncovered after doctors at the Countess began to notice a rise in the number of babies dying or unexpectedly collapsing.
