A panel of experts has raised doubts about the medical evidence used to convict a British nurse of murdering seven newborns and attempting to kill seven others. The experts, led by a retired neonatologist, concluded that natural causes or poor medical care were responsible for the deaths of the infants. The nurse, Lucy Letby, is currently serving multiple life sentences with no chance of release after being found guilty of murder and attempted murder while working at a hospital in northwestern England.
Letby's defense lawyer stated that there is now overwhelming evidence that she was wrongly convicted and is serving a sentence for a crime that did not occur. The defense team has requested a review of her conviction, potentially opening the door for a new appeal. The Crown Prosecution Service has not commented on the new findings by the medical panel.
The panel of experts disputed the prosecution's claims that Letby had injected air into the babies' bloodstreams or stomachs, causing fatal embolisms. They argued that the evidence presented during the trial was flawed and misinterpreted, pointing out that the skin discoloration described was not consistent with embolism.
In one case where Letby was accused of overfeeding a baby, the panel concluded that the child had actually fallen ill due to a viral infection and later recovered after receiving antibiotics. The ongoing public inquiry into failures at the hospital where Letby worked is not examining the evidence used in her case but is focused on accountability of hospital staff and management, as well as the treatment of parents.
