Sir David Davis has called for a retrial of convicted serial child murderer Lucy Letby, saying he believes it will clear the former neonatal nurse.
The former Conservative minister told the House of Commons during an adjournment debate on Wednesday that there was evidence that could have cleared Letby, such as expert analysis of case notes, which was not presented during her trial.
Davis said that the case against her was built on a “poor understanding of probabilities.”
He added that he had been approached by “many experts, leading statisticians, neonatal specialists, forensic scientists, legal experts and those who had served at Chester Hospital who were afraid to come forward.”
They had told the senior MP that “false analyses and diagnoses” had been used to “persuade a lay jury” to find Letby guilty.
Letby, 34, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
‘No Hard Evidence’
Davis said in the Commons that there was “no hard evidence” against Letby, and nobody saw the former neonatal nurse “do anything untoward.”He said that while she was on shift for a number of deaths, she was not present for all of them, and suggested other factors were at play which were not presented at the earlier trial, including an outbreak of a form of antibiotic resistant bacteria and the “suboptimal” care of two of the babies.
Davis told MPs: “There is case in justice, in my view, for a retrial. But there is a problem. One of the problems we face is that much of the evidence was available at the time.
“What I have described is an expert analysis of the case notes, which were there at the time, but it was simply not presented to the jury.
“This means the Court of Appeal can dismiss it, basically saying the defence should have presented it at the initial trial.
Judicial Process
Responding to the Tory MP, Justice Minister Alex Davies-Jones said it was an “important principle of the rule of law” that the government does not interfere with judicial decisions.Davies-Jones added it was “not appropriate for me or the Government to comment on judicial processes nor the reliability of convictions or evidence.”
Another Legal Challenge
Last month, lawyers for Letby said they would launch a fresh legal bid to overturn her convictions on grounds that the prosecutor’s medical expert at her trial, Dr. Dewi Evans, was “not reliable.”On Dec. 16, Letby’s new barrister, Mark McDonald, said he would immediately seek permission from the Court of Appeal to take the “exceptional, but necessary, decision” to apply to reopen her case.
McDonald claimed that Evans had changed his opinion on the mechanism by which three of the babies died.
“The defence will argue that Dr. Evans is not a reliable expert, and all the convictions are not safe,” McDonald said.
The following day, Evans issued a statement strongly denying the claims he had changed his mind over the cause of death of Letby’s victims, calling McDonald’s observations regarding his evidence “unsubstantiated, unfounded, inaccurate.”
Evans said: “The only place appropriate to deal with any potential appeal is the relevant Court.
“If required I would be pleased to give evidence in the usual way; on oath, subject to cross examination, and where my evidence is placed in the public domain. I would expect any other participant to agree to the same principles.
Thirlwall Inquiry
The remarks by Davis came while the Thirlwall Inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall is ongoing.The inquiry is tasked with examining the events at the Countess of Chester Hospital and their implications, following the trial and convictions of Letby.
The inquiry is expected to continue sitting until early 2025, with the findings published by late autumn.
