Lucy Letby 'hires new barrister' in bid to overturn murder convictions
5 September 2024, 23:43 | Updated: 6 September 2024, 10:33
Lucy Letby has hired a new barrister in a bid to overturn her murder convictions on the grounds of unreliable evidence, reports claim.
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Criminal defence specialist Mark McDonald, of Furnival Chambers, has taken over the infamous case and is reportedly in the process of gathering evidence.
After two trials and two attempts to appeal, Letby, 34, was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others in July of this year following a second trial at Manchester Crown Court.
The crimes were said to have taken place during a stint working in the Countess of Chester Hospital's neo-natal unit between 2015 and 2016.
Letby had been reluctant to lose Ben Myers KC, her original counsel, it has been claimed. But Mr Myers will reportedly stay on to appeal Letby’s recent conviction of the attempted murder of Baby K.
As reported by the Telegraph, Mr McDonald will take the case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
“It’s accurate that I have taken over the case,” Mr McDonald told the publication.
“You don’t win a case arguing that the defence was bad, but on the fact that the evidence which was presented was unreliable.
“There are numerous experts who are coming forward to question the evidence.”
This week, it was revealed a sticky note containing killer nurse Lucy Letby's alleged ‘I am evil’ confession was written on the advice of a hospital counsellor.
During Letby's first two trials, jurors were told the note was an apparent confession that should be read "literally".
However, new evidence appears to show the note - which formed a key part of the prosecution's evidence during her first trial - was in fact written on the advice of medical professionals.
But now The Guardian has revealed that the head of occupational health and wellbeing at the Countess of Chester Hospital, Kathryn de Beger, encouraged Letby to write the sticky note used as key evidence in the trial.
It's reported that the nurse wrote down her thoughts on the sticky note as was way of coping with "extreme stress".
It comes as Letby’s GP also reportedly advised her to write down the thoughts she was struggling with.
During the trial, Letby had previously claimed she wrote the note, which was discovered in her diary by police, when she was ‘panicking’ after being moved away from the hospital’s neonatal unit.
The post-it note in question contained the words: “I am evil I did this” - a supposed confession which the prosecution's case was built around.
Other scribbles on the small yellow note included: “I killed them on purpose because I am not good enough to care for them and I am a horrible evil person” and “hate".
However, the same notes written by Letby also include comments including: “Not good enough”, “Why me?”, “I haven’t done anything wrong” and “Police investigation slander discrimination victimisation”.
Sources close to the case have now told the Guardian that the Countess of Chester hospital’s own head of occupational health and wellbeing suggested writing down the intrusive thoughts.
Letby, of Hereford, was convicted of the murders and attempted murders of the babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital in August 2023.
The jury in Letby's trial, however, was unable to reach verdicts on six counts of attempted murder in relation to five children.
She went on to face a retrial in the same court, culminating in her conviction on seven counts of murder in July 2024.
However, recent months have seen an increasing number of questions raised surrounding the nurse's conviction - including reports that deceased tech tycoon Mike Lynch was set to look into the case prior to his death.
