Barely a day goes by when the wrongful – in my opinion – conviction of Lucy Letby does not weigh heavy on my mind.
The former neonatal nurse, serving 15 whole life sentences for the murder of seven babies and attempted murder of seven others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016, has spent more than 2,000 days in prison.
Now 36, she is condemned to die behind bars. Yet many legal experts agree that the threshold of ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ was never reached in her case and even some of her detractors agree that a retrial must take place.
In the three years since her conviction, I and many experts from multiple disciplines have watched as the case against her has turned to dust. But still Lucy must wait on the interminable ruminations of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), and its decision (or not) to refer her case to the Court of Appeal.
Lucy’s barrister Mark McDonald has presented the CCRC with hundreds of pages of new evidence and expert reports across four specific areas of her case, some of which I can share here.
The first surrounds the so-called ‘confession note’ on which Lucy scribbled, ‘I am evil. I did this’. While these were the words presented to the jury and reported in the media, they were taken out of context. Neither were the notes presented in full – she had also written the words, ‘I haven’t done anything wrong’.
The notes were written on the advice of professionals as Lucy tried to process her thoughts at a time of intense stress when she’d been removed from ward duties.
According to Professor Gisli Gudjonsson, a world-renowned authority on false confessions, the notes are ‘unreliable as evidence of a confession of criminal intent and should have been treated with extreme caution’.
Lucy’s barrister Mark McDonald has presented the CCRC with hundreds of pages of new evidence and expert reports across four specific areas of her case
His report submitted to the CCRC, raises serious concerns about the selective notes submitted as evidence at the trial.
Gudjonsson, Emeritus Professor of Forensic Psychology at King’s College London, says: ‘The note reveals utter despair and bewilderment. ‘‘Why me?” Miss Letby seems puzzled by what has happened to her, pondering has she done something wrong inadvertently to have caused the deaths. It seems she could not work out what she had done wrong. Even writing, ‘‘I haven’t done anything wrong’’.’
The second area for which new evidence is being submitted is the blizzard of statistics used to convict her.
For example, police used ‘swipe pass’ data – from the electronic passes staff use to access the special care baby unit – to monitor who was present and when, in order to ‘prove’ Lucy was more often on the unit than other staff when deaths occurred.
But we now know that passes were not always carried and the code needed to enter the unit without a pass was written on the wall in the corridor.
Cheshire Police also failed to disclose that they had appointed a statistician, Dr Jane Hutton, to analyse statistics. When she presented evidence that did not support their thesis, they dispensed with her services.
The CCRC submission includes a new report by two renowned Cambridge statisticians, providing clear evidence the ‘spike’ in baby deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital was not an outlier in relation to other hospitals in the UK.
Next up is the insulin issue: large amounts of insulin were found in the blood of two babies who died. The prosecution claimed that Lucy had overdosed the babies. However, what was not disclosed to the jury, was that the prosecution’s expert witness, Professor Peter Hindmarsh, had his contract terminated by Great Ormond Street Hospital four months before he gave evidence at the court hearing.
A new report by two renowned Cambridge statisticians also provides clear evidence the ‘spike’ in baby deaths was not an outlier in relation to other hospitals in the UK, writes Nadine Dorries
In the period leading up to the trial, he was the subject of a formal investigation by University College London Hospitals NHS Trust into wide-ranging concerns about his work. He later removed himself from the GMC Register.
A 100-page report by Helen Shannon, a bio-chemical engineer, and Professor Geoff Chase, an expert biomedical engineer at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, forms part of the new evidence, arguing that ‘low blood sugar levels are not unusual in pre-term infants’.
Finally, we have the testimony given in court by the doctor who applied pressure on managers to contact police over his concerns about Lucy. Dr Ravi Jayaram said he walked into what he described as a murder attempt, as Lucy stood over a baby whose breathing tube had been dislodged.
What he did not disclose was that it was the nurse herself who had called him to the unit for his help with the baby.
This was confirmed in an email he had sent to another doctor at the time. The email was only found after Lucy had been imprisoned.
Of these four key areas of the Lucy Letby case for which new evidence has been gathered – reports compiled by 32 leading experts in their field – the CCRC may refer only one to the court.
One would be enough to overturn her conviction.
However, I and others are hopeful that all of the reports will be sent to the court and all of the evidence heard.
For Lucy to move on with her life, she needs full, not a partial, exoneration. If ever there was a case where justice needs to be seen to be done, it is surely this one.
Stick to your strengths, Claudia
May I make a well-intentioned suggestion to both Claudia Winkleman and Graham Norton now that their forays into other formats have backfired?
The Claudia Winkleman Show launched on BBC1 in March, but Nadine says the format isn’t her forte
Stick to what you know and are brilliant at. Claudia, you excel at Traitors and Strictly-style shows. The chat show just isn’t your forte.
Graham, your wit and comic timing make you British TV’s sofa supremo who can attract the biggest names in showbiz for real interviews with an edge. You really didn’t need The Neighbourhood.
Fab 2 are my No.1
It was sheer joy to watch my fellow Liverpudlian Stephen Graham bag his first Bafta for Best Actor for his role in the multi-award-winning Netflix drama Adolescence.
However, the ‘Thank you speech’ moment was stolen by Warrington-born Owen Cooper, 16, who received his own Best Supporting Actor Bafta for the same drama.
Owen Cooper, 16, received the Best Supporting Actor Bafta for his role in the Netflix drama Adolescence
‘So, in my eyes, I think you only need three things to succeed: one, you need an obsession; two, you need a dream; and three, you need The Beatles.’
He then went on to quote John Lennon. Such class from one so young.
That boy will go far.
Kemi Badenoch has said a Conservative government would leave the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Really? She knows better than most that more than two-thirds of Tory MPs are ardent Remainers who would rather quit the party than vote to leave the ECHR. It won’t happen. I’m sure some Tories would rather defect to the pro-Europe Lib Dems. Politics is about to get even more interesting!
The new theory that a fresh pair of eyes can find something you have been searching for because they don’t have a pre-conceived idea of where the object might be doesn’t apply in our house.
When I can’t find something, from keys to passports, I call the same daughter every time. She doesn’t even need to be in the house to tell me where the thing is or where it is likely to be. And she is always right.
