Lucy Letby did not murder babies, claim medical experts

Child killer Lucy Letby did not murder any babies, a panel of international medical experts reviewing evidence in her case has claimed.

Chairman Dr Shoo Lee told a press conference “in all cases death or injury were due to natural causes or just bad medical care”.

Letby, who is serving 15 whole life sentences for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others between 2015 and 2016, has already lost two bids to appeal against her convictions.

The panel’s findings are likely to form part of an application which has been made by her lawyers to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) for her case to be investigated as a potential miscarriage of justice.

The lengthy and medically technical press conference was organised by Letby’s legal team who had said the panel would present “significant new medical evidence”.

Dr Lee, a Canadian neonatal care expert, said there were alternative explanations for each of Letby’s convictions for murder or attempted murder.

He said he became involved in the case after learning that an academic paper he co-authored on air embolism, one of the methods Letby was said to have used to attack babies, had formed part of the prosecution case in her trial.

Dr Lee said the 14 experts, including medical professionals from Canada, the US, Japan, Germany, Sweden and the UK, had looked at 17 cases at the heart of Letby’s prosecution and had compiled an “impartial evidence-based report”.

The report presented at the conference was a summary of the panel’s findings, and the full report would be submitted to Letby’s legal team, Dr Lee said.

The lengthy and medically technical press conference was organised by Letby’s legal team who had said the panel would present “significant new medical evidence”.

Dr Lee, a Canadian neonatal care expert, said there were alternative explanations for each of Letby’s convictions for murder or attempted murder.

He said he became involved in the case after learning that an academic paper he co-authored on air embolism, one of the methods Letby was said to have used to attack babies, had formed part of the prosecution case in her trial.

Dr Lee said the 14 experts, including medical professionals from Canada, the US, Japan, Germany, Sweden and the UK, had looked at 17 cases at the heart of Letby’s prosecution and had compiled an “impartial evidence-based report”.

The report presented at the conference was a summary of the panel’s findings, and the full report would be submitted to Letby’s legal team, Dr Lee said.