There's no time to delay. The Letby case needs an urgent review

Yahoo

05-02-2025

Lucy Letby is once again back in the public eye, after a panel of 14 experts methodically and forensically demolished the medical case presented at her trial.
Dr Shoo Lee, author of a 1989 paper that played a substantial role in the evidence which persuaded the jury that she had injected air into the veins of the babies she is alleged to have killed, was extremely clear that this was a misrepresentation and so served as an expert witness.
He arranged the aforementioned medical panel, made up of some of the most eminent doctors in the world. These medical professionals came together in pursuit of the truth. They had agreed at the outset that they would publish their findings, whether they exonerated Lucy Letby or incriminated her.
The truth, they have concluded, is that the babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital were not murdered, and died from either natural causes or poor medical care.
As you read this article, there is a tsunami of coverage on the injustice of Lucy Letby's conviction and the outcry for this case to be looked at again has reached a fever pitch.
From a position where most of us were certain that she was guilty of the most heinous crimes, it is now abundantly clear the verdict is one of the worst miscarriages of justice in modern times.
I was made aware of the case when I heard about a 13,000-word New Yorker article, which raised serious concerns about Letby's trial in May last year and was unavailable for UK readers to read due to reporting restrictions.
I questioned this restriction in parliament. Immediately my inbox was flooded by leading statisticians, neonatal specialists, forensic scientists, legal experts and those who had served at the Chester hospital and were afraid to come forward. The experts included a past president of the Royal Statistical Society and a past president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health – people who were more knowledgeable than the purported experts whose evidence convicted Lucy Letby.
They were all concerned by what they perceived as the false analyses and diagnoses used to persuade a lay jury to convict Letby. I spent the summer finding out for myself – initially reading the account of every day of the trial but eventually getting my hands on the bulk of the court transcripts from the original trial.
I came to the conclusion that Lucy Letby is innocent. After the press conference, I hope many of you are reaching the same conclusion. Miscarriages of justice are not uncommon. The Birmingham Six, the Guildford Four and the Post Office scandal all show the dangers of flawed prosecutions. Letby, perversely, is only the fourth woman in UK history to be told she will never be released from prison.
Mark McDonald, Letby's new barrister, has now filed an application for the Criminal Case Review Commission to review the case. The CCRC has already established a team to review Letby's case, and they should quickly complete their review and refer the case back to the Court of Appeal.
As we learnt from the case of Andrew Malkinson, the CCRC can be slow to act. In his case, DNA evidence proving him innocent was available four years after his conviction, yet it took a further 13 years to release him. That cannot be allowed to happen in Letby's case. A referral should be in months, not years.
Rt Hon David Davis MP is former Shadow Home Secretary
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