Families of Lucy Letby victims ‘already have the truth’, says mother
A press conference by medics who claimed Letby had not murdered any babies was branded a ‘publicity stunt’ by one parent.
The mother of a baby boy who Lucy Letby tried to murder says the families of the former nurse’s 14 victims “already have the truth” about what happened to their children at a hospital neonatal unit.
The furious parent, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, branded a two-hour press conference that claimed Letby had not murdered any babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital as a “publicity stunt”.
On Tuesday, Dr Shoo Lee said his international panel of neonatologists and paediatric specialists had found that deaths or injuries of babies said to have been at the hands of the former neonatal nurse were due either to bad medical care or natural causes.
Dr Lee, who co-authored a 1989 academic paper on air embolism in babies which featured prominently at Letby’s first 10-month trial, went on tell reporters that his team’s work was “not meant to cause more distress” to the affected families.
He said: “Rather, it is meant to give them comfort and assurance in knowing the truth about what really happened.
“We know that they want to know the truth and that is why we are here to tell the truth.”
But the mother of one of Letby’s victims told the Daily Mail: “Every aspect of what they are doing is so disrespectful, it is very upsetting.
“They said the parents want to know the truth, but we’ve had the truth. We believe in the British justice system, we believe the jury made the right decision.
“We already have the truth and this panel of so-called experts don’t speak for us.”
She added it was “misleading” to suggest new evidence had been uncovered when such themes had already been examined at length before jurors.
Letby’s new barrister Mark McDonald denied at the press conference he was merely submitting a “rehash” of the original defence case.
Mr McDonald said: “The defence did not call an expert. So as a result all you were left with was the evidence of prosecution experts in relation to neonatology, paediatrics and pathology.
“So yes, this is fresh evidence, this is new evidence. It’s compelling evidence because of the nature of the people who are giving that evidence and it wasn’t heard by the jury.”
He also dismissed “lesser circumstantial” non-medical evidence presented at Letby’s trial such as her handwritten note which stated: “I am evil, I did this”, her hoarding of mementos of her crimes, and her Facebook searches of parents of her victims.
Mr McDonald said there was a “valid explanation” for each of them as he asserted Letby was convicted solely on the medical evidence which he said had now been “demolished”.
Letby, 35, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted across two trials at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016.
She 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.
Mr McDonald hopes the medical evidence uncovered by the expert panel – working pro bono – will lead to Letby’s case being sent back to the Court of Appeal.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, has started to assess her case which is said to involve a “significant volume of complicated evidence”.
The independent body said it was not possible at present to determine how long it will take to review the application from Letby’s legal team.
