Doctor whose research was used to convict Lucy Letby claims his work was ‘misrepresented’ during her court case
A NEONATAL doctor whose research was used to convict Lucy Letby is expected to intervene in the case after claiming his work was misrepresented in court.
Former nurse Letby, 35, is serving 15 whole-life sentences for the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of seven others in her care at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
During her trial, an academic paper by Dr Shoo Lee, one of Canada’s top neonatologists, was used to support the theory that she killed some of the infants by injecting them with air.
Prosecution expert witness Dr Dewi Evans cited the 1989 study which said skin discolourations occur when there are air bubbles in blood vessels.
Evans went on to claim this was seen in several of the babies that Letby was found guilty of harming between 2015 and 2016.
Recently-retired Dr Lee, 67, now says he “wasn’t happy” with how his research was presented to the jury at Manchester Crown Court.
He has flown to the UK where he is set to unveil details of an independent review of the case by a “blue ribbon committee” of 14 international medical experts at a press conference on Tuesday.
It is expected that he will say that none of the babies should have been diagnosed with air embolism.
He may suggest the “very rare” condition has “specific” signs which were not observed.
It is understood that for a “large number” of cases, the panel of experts have recorded a different cause of death than the sick methods the nurse was accused of using to hurt the tragic tots.
Dr Lee told The Sunday Times: “The evidence that was used to convict her, in my opinion, wasn’t quite right…What I can say is that we looked at the cases in great detail and we came to very definite conclusions about what happened in every case.”
At Letby’s appeal hearing in April, Dr Lee insisted that none of the descriptions of the babies’ skin blemishes given by witnesses matched those he had noted in his research.
But the judges ruled his evidence was inadmissible – pointing out that the defence could have called him to testify at the original trial.
It comes as previously undisclosed police notes, obtained by the Unherd news website, suggest the jury were not informed that Letby was absent for ten of the 28 suspicious incidents involving babies at the Countess of Chester hospital.
They were instead told that she was “the one common denominator” in all unexpected deaths or collapses.
Unherd likened the case to the Birmingham Six – the men locked up for 16 years after being wrongly convicted of killing 21 people by bombing pubs in 1974, according to the Mail on Sunday.
Letby, from Hereford, has been denied permission to appeal her convictions.
Former Cabinet Minister David Davis is leading calls for a retrial, branding the case a “clear miscarriage of justice”.
It comes after a public inquiry hearing how speculation over Letby caused “enormous additional distress” to the parents of her victims.
Timeline of horror - how Letby targeted babies
Lucy Letby carried out her horrific crimes in a year-long period at Countess of Chester Hospital.
She used insulin and air to inject newborns while working on the neo-natal ward.
The collapses and deaths of the children were not “naturally-occurring tragedies” and instead the gruesome work of “poisoner” Letby.
Her rampage was finally uncovered after staff grew suspicious of the “significant rise” in the number of babies dying or suffering “catastrophic” collapses.
Letby was found to be the “common denominator” among the horrifying incidents.
Officers then searched her three-bedroom home in Chester and discovered a chilling cache of evidence.
The nurse had scribbled haunting notes in diaries and on Post-It notes, including one that read: “I am evil I did this.”
The note added: “I don’t deserve to live. I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to care for them.
“I am a horrible person.”
A probe into whether Letby harmed any other babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital is ongoing.
A corporate manslaughter investigation is also ongoing.