The clamour grows for Lucy Letby to get a retrial. Here is why I think she shouldn't

6 February 2025, 13:59 | Updated: 6 February 2025, 14:06

I thought long and hard about whether to actually write this piece.

Is it really true that Lucy Letby is the victim of the most grotesque miscarriage of justice in British criminal history?

Currently Letby languishes in her cell in HMP Bronzefield. She has always maintained her innocence and now a wave of experts have come forward to challenge her convictions of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven more.

Fourteen senior clinicians from around the world have joined a panel on her behalf. They have analysed the medical evidence against Letby and concluded the babies died of natural causes or because of poor medical care.

Most persuasively is the argument of retired Canadian doctor Dr Shoo Lee, whose paper on air embolisms was actually cited by the prosecution during Letby's trial.

They successfully argued that Letby attacked some of her victims by injecting air into them, causing a fatal embolism but Dr Shoo says this misinterprets his research.

So, what should we do as a society? Should we hold a new trial to establish if there is any validity to this new evidence, or is it merely a rehash?

None of us want an innocent nurse to rot away in a jail cell while those whose blunders at the Countess of Chester Hospital caused the deaths of all those babies are able to carry on regardless.

But - for me - here comes the central point that the medical panel, and well-meaning former Cabinet Minister David Davis have yet to adequately explain.

The circumstantial against Letby is damning.

• Letby was the only nurse on duty for 25 incidents, which included swipe data showing her movements around the unit.
• Searches of her home and handbag uncovered a stash of handwritten post-it notes with such phrases as "I am evil, I did this", and "I killed them on purpose because I'm not good enough to care for them."
• Under her bed were found 250 sensitive medical documents including nursing handover sheets, resuscitation records, and blood gas readings.

I accept that there are question marks over her defence.

Her behaviour in court was questionable and her team called no medical experts to her trial.

Apart from Letby herself, the only other witness on her behalf was a plumber who testified about plumbing issues at the hospital which caused sewage to wash up through the sinks on the unit.

Letby, now 35, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others between June 2015 and June 2016.

She lost two bids last year to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeal.

But before she gets the retrial her team crave, some of her behaviour needs properly explaining. Why did she take that paperwork home and why did she scribble those notes?

Speaking about the medical panel now speaking up for Letby, the family of one of her victims puts it:

"They said the parents want to know the truth, but we've had the truth. We believe in the British justice system, we believe the jury made the right decision.

"We already have the truth and this panel of so-called experts don't speak for us."

And that is my view too.

The medical experts may argue about embolisms but the questions surrounding Letby's conduct and behaviour need answering before her case goes before a court again.

Without that, this just adds more agony for the parents who lost their children in the most appalling circumstances.

They don't deserve that.

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