Lucy Letby's legal team are challenging her murder convictions after expert witness 'changed his mind'

16 December 2024, 15:08 | Updated: 16 December 2024, 16:10

Killer nurse Lucy Letby's legal team has said they will be asking the Court of Appeal to immediately review all of her convictions because an expert witness "has now changed his mind on the cause of death of three babies".

The former nurse is serving a rare whole-life sentence for murdering seven babies and trying to kill seven others while working as a neo-natal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

She was convicted in August 2023 and was refused permission to appeal against the convictions in May and October 2024.

Her barrister, Mark McDonald, said he would immediately seek permission from the Court of Appeal to take the "exceptional, but necessary, decision" to apply to reopen her case.

Speaking at a press conference in London on Monday, he said: "The primary grounds of appeal at the previous hearings related to the admissibility before the jury of the evidence of the lead prosecution expert Dr Dewi Evans.

"The defence argued twice at trial that Dr Evans' evidence should be disregarded. This was refused by the trial judge.

"It was then later argued in the Court of Appeal, and was refused in the court of appeal.

"Remarkably, Dr Evans has now changed his mind on the cause of death of three of the babies: Baby C, Baby I and Baby P."

Read more: Killer nurse Lucy Letby questioned from prison over deaths of more babies at two hospitals

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Mr McDonald spoke alongside Dr Richard Taylor, a neonatologist from Victoria, British Columbia, Dr Roger Norwich, a consultant paediatrician, and Peter Elston, who is a statistician.

"Dr Evans had said to the jury that Lucy Letby had injected air down a nasal gastric tube and this had led to the death of the three babies," he continued.

"This was repeated to the Court of Appeal, who may have been misled when they ruled on the application for leave against the convictions.

"Dr Evans has also said that he has revised his opinion in relation to Baby C and has written a new report, a new report that he has given to the police, months ago now.

"Despite numerous requests, the prosecution has yet to give this report to the defence.

"The defence will argue that Dr Evans is not a reliable expert, and given that he was the lead expert for the prosecution, we say that all the convictions are not safe."

Inquiry into Lucy Letby baby deaths case begins

The defence team has reports from two neonatologists that it claims count as fresh evidence in the cases in relation to Baby C and Baby O.

Read a statement from Dr Neil Aiton and Dr Silvena Dimitrova, Mr McDonald said: "Our reports demonstrate that there are identifiable medical reasons why both babies became unwell, sadly did not respond to resuscitation and subsequently passed away.

"We have set out clearly within our reports evidence showing that these babies could not reasonably be described as 'well' or 'stable'. Neither should their deteriorations be described as 'unexplained'.

"Our reports contain carefully justified new evidence which has not been presented before - either in court - or as part of previous examinations of these cases by multiple sources.

"It is not our role to determine any impact this new evidence might have on the legal process.

"Although some of the medical information within the reports is complex, it is possible to draw clear and sound conclusions which we believe will stand up to scrutiny: in this respect we are completely happy for our report to be subject to appropriate independent expert critical analysis.

"We have provided evidence that Baby O died due to issues related to the resuscitation. Baby C died due to problems caused by failing placental function at the end of the pregnancy.

"We have seen no evidence of deliberate harm to these babies by anyone."

The announcement comes just weeks after Letby was questioned by police over the deaths of more babies at two hospitals.

Cheshire Police confirmed earlier in the month: "We can confirm that, following agreement, Lucy Letby has recently been interviewed in prison under caution in relation to the ongoing investigation into baby deaths and non-fatal collapses at the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

"Further updates will follow."

The Thirlwall Inquiry into how Letby was able to commit her crimes has heard evidence at Liverpool Town Hall since September.

It will resume in January for its final two weeks of evidence, with findings expected to be published in autumn 2025.