Latest news with #grossNegligence
CBS News
2 days ago
- CBS News
Police arrest former bosses of hospital where U.K. nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering babies
London — Three former senior leaders at the British hospital where nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter, police said Tuesday. All three were part of the senior leadership team at the Countess of Chester Hospital in the northwest of England between 2015 and 2016, when Letby was found to have killed the babies and attempted to kill seven others. Letby, 35, is serving 15 consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole, but there have been questions raised about the evidence used in her trial, and her lawyer has filed for a formal review of the case. A large television screen near Manchester Crown Court broadcasts the judge sentencing convicted hospital nurse Lucy Letby on August 21, 2023 in Manchester, England. Getty Images In October 2023, following Letby's conviction, the Cheshire Constabulary police force launched an investigation into potential corporate manslaughter at the hospital, focusing on the decision-making of senior bosses, "to determine whether any criminality has taken place concerning the response to the increased levels of fatalities," according to a Tuesday statement by Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes. That investigation was widened to include the charge of gross negligence manslaughter, leading to the arrest of the three former leaders. All three have been released on bail pending further investigation, the police said. "Both the corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter elements of the investigation are continuing and there are no set timescales for these," Hughes said. "It is important to note that this does not impact on the convictions of Lucy Letby for multiple offenses of murder and attempted murder," he added. The Cheshire police are also investigating deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neonatal units of the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Liverpool Women's Hospital between 2012 and 2016, where Letby did her training. Lucy Letby's controversial murder conviction Since her conviction, there have been significant concerns voiced over the evidence used to secure Letby's conviction, with The New Yorker, The Guardian, Private Eye and other outlets reporting on possible alleged flaws in the trial proceedings. In February, a group of experts held a news conference to dispute the medical evidence used to convict Letby. Police activity at a house in Chester, believed to be the home of nurse Lucy Letby, after Cheshire Police announced a female health care professional had been arrested in a probe into the deaths of infants at the Countess of Chester Hospital. Peter Byrne/PA Images/Getty Dr. Shoo Lee, a retired Canadian neonatologist, said the group of 14 doctors had concluded that the newborns died either of natural causes or from insufficient medical care. "In summary then, ladies and gentlemen, we did not find murders," Lee said at the time Letby has maintained her innocence. Her defense lawyer Mark McDonald said in April that the experts' findings had "completely demolished" the case against Letby, whom he argues was wrongly convicted. McDonald said he had submitted an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which has the power to send cases back to the Court of Appeal. The CCRC has given no date for when a decision might be reached.
The Independent
13-05-2025
- The Independent
Aristocrat Constance Marten refuses to continue cross-examination in trial over baby death
Aristocrat Constance Marten has declined to continue her cross-examination by the prosecution as she stands trial over the death of her newborn baby. Jurors at the Old Bailey were told on Tuesday that the mother, 37, who was due to answer questions from prosecutor Joel Smith KC, had indicated she 'didn't wish to continue' giving evidence. She has previously given her evidence in chief and spent half a day in the witness box responding to questions from her partner and co-defendant Mark Gordon, who decided to represent himself in court after his barristers withdrew. Ms Marten and Mr Gordon, 50, deny gross negligence manslaughter of their daughter Victoria and causing or allowing her death while they were on the run in January 2023. The prosecution alleges Victoria died from hypothermia or was smothered while co-sleeping in a "flimsy" tent after they took her 'off-grid' on the South Downs in a bid to stop her from being taken into care like their four other children. Victoria's decomposing remains were later found stashed in a rubbish-filled shopping bag in a disused allotment shed. Last week she called Mr Smith KC 'diabolical' and 'heartless' as he started the cross-examination for the prosecution, asking her whether leaving Victoria's body in a bag filled with rubbish was a "despicable thing" to do. 'Mr Smith you are diabolical…I find the way you cross examine me really uncouth,' she said. 'You really are a heartless human being.' After he questioned her journalism experience and why she gave fake names at hotels while police were looking for her, she broke down, telling the court she found Mr Smith 'abhorrent' and she was tired of being 'grilled and my character being defamed'. 'I understand that I am being prosecuted but I am just not going to sit here and be spoken to like that,' she added. When jurors returned to court on Tuesday they were told that she had been given special permission to speak to her barrister in the middle of her evidence as she decided whether to continue, but it remained her 'firm view' that she would not return to the witness box. The Recorder of London, Mark Lucraft KC, told the jury: 'I, in due course, will direct you about what consequence that has. 'As you may expect, if somebody doesn't complete their evidence the weight you have to give it should be considered very carefully.' Marten previously told jurors that sheltering in the tent was intended to be a "pit stop" to avoid "prying eyes". She wept as she said that she would "turn back time" if she knew Victoria was in danger, adding that they "spent so long trying to protect her". She described taking Victoria on the run as a 'selfless act', adding: 'Mark and I don't relish being on the move constantly it is a constant upheaval you can't put down roots anywhere…but we did it because we love our daughter so much. It was a parental love, it was a selfless act.' She said she did not know if she 'fell asleep, blacked out or fainted' but woke up slumped over the lifeless infant. Last year, the parents were convicted of concealing the birth of the child and perverting the course of justice in a previous trial. The retrial continues.
The Independent
06-05-2025
- The Independent
Mark Gordon to represent himself in retrial over death of baby with Constance Marten
A father accused of taking his newborn daughter off-grid in winter with aristocrat Constance Marten will represent himself in his retrial over the death of the infant, a court heard. Jurors at the Old Bailey were told on Tuesday that Mark Gordon's previous barrister John Femi-Ola KC and his junior Jodie-Jane Hitchcock had 'withdrawn' from the case and that the defendant has chosen to represent himself. Mr Gordon will submit the questions he wishes to ask during the trial in written form to the judge. Judge Lucraft told the jury to return on Wednesday when Ms Marten is due to continue giving evidence, adding: 'This morning Mr Femi-Ola and Ms Hitchcock are not present in court because they have withdrawn and going forward Mr Gordon has chosen to represent himself, so that means that I am giving him a bit of time this afternoon to work out which questions he's going to ask.' Ms Marten, 37, and Mr Gordon, 50, both deny gross negligence manslaughter and causing or allowing the death of their daughter Victoria in January 2023, whose birth they concealed after their four other children were removed from their care. The prosecution alleges the parents at times used a red Lidl bag-for-life to carry the newborn as they fled the authorities before her eventual death due to hypothermia or 'grossly negligent co-sleeping' as they camped off-grid in the South Downs. The couple were avoiding their fifth child being removed from them amid a high-profile police hunt for the missing baby, with Ms Marten claiming her other children were 'stolen by the state', the Old Bailey previously heard. On Friday, Ms Marten gave evidence and Tom Godfrey – who was the junior barrister in her defence team with Francis FitzGibbon KC as the leading silk – was the one to ask his client questions. Judge Lucraft told jurors at the start of the day's proceedings: 'The eagle-eyed amongst you may notice Mr FitzGibbon is not here and the eagle-eyed will see it is going to be Mr Godfrey who will be asking further questions of Ms Marten going forward. 'Please do not concern yourselves as to the reasons this has happened.' The mother told the jury she woke up to find the newborn limp and pale after falling asleep with her zipped inside her jacket. Asked if she reported Victoria's death, Marten said: 'At that stage no I was just… in the movies, I don't know, accidentally someone dies they panic and they think, oh my gosh… I just thought they were going to say I was some evil mother, a murderess, that sort of thing.' She said she did not trust the police to carry out an investigation after 'such a big media furore around us'. Ms Marten described the situation as the 'worst nightmare that you have ever woke up from'. Victoria's decomposing remains were later found stashed in a rubbish-filled shopping bag in a disused allotment shed. Last year, the parents were convicted of concealing the birth of the child and perverting the course of justice in a previous trial. The retrial continues.
