Lucy Letby case ‘may be miscarriage of justice' & there's ‘gaps in evidence', coroner's officer who reviewed deaths says
4
4
4
4
The nurse also tried to kill seven others - including one baby twice - at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
But now, a former senior coroner's officer has claimed she fears Letby "suffered a miscarriage of justice".
Stephanie Davies, who worked within Cheshire Police at the time the investigation into baby deaths was opened, was given three hours to carry out her review in 2017.
She argued there were 'gaps' in the explanations given about the deaths of babies.
In an interview with The Guardian and Channel 4 News, Davies revealed how she had expressed alarm that a medical procedure conducted on one of the babies was not reported to the coroner at the time.
Her report was later integral to the decision to investigate Letby, Davies said.
However, she now believes that crucial details about one of the babies could have made a difference to the investigation.
'I am now extremely concerned that the convictions of Ms Letby are wholly unsafe,' she wrote to Cheshire's senior coroner.
Davies 'stands by' her initial review but said she feels 'almost guilty that it contributed to a police investigation being started, which led to convictions that I now believe are unsafe and a miscarriage of justice.'
Davies added: 'I reported that there were missing jigsaw pieces, that the deaths of the babies hadn't been fully explained.
'I said if the police went ahead with an investigation, they may find those missing pieces.
"But I did not say, or see any evidence, that any of the babies had been deliberately harmed.'
Dr Neil Aiton and Dr Svilena Dimitrova produced a report for Mark McDonald, Letby's lawyer, on a triplet who died at the hospital and was referred to as Baby O at the trial.
The specialist consultant neonatologists suggested that a doctor had mistakenly inserted a needle with a cannula into Baby O's liver when trying to relieve abdominal swelling and that this was a cause of his death.
Davies said these explanations 'filled the gaps' she had seen when reviewing the file 'much more than the police and prosecution case against Lucy Letby'.
But during the trial, Dr Stephen Brearey, the clinical lead of the neonatal unit who inserted the needle, said it was 'nowhere near' the liver.
And prosecution medical experts argued that the procedure was not significant to the harm the baby suffered.
However, Letby was found guilty of inflicting the liver damage, and injecting air into the baby's stomach and veins.
Davies has now said she has since found the explanations of new medical experts, who have publicly contested the prosecution arguments, compelling.
Davies lost her job at Cheshire police in 2023 after a different review she conducted, which challenged the outcomes of two murder investigations.
Cheshire cops pursued Davies for gross misconduct, alleging that she breached duties of confidentiality when she sent details to the experts.
However, she resigned from the force before her disciplinary hearing.
The charges Letby has been convicted of in full
Child A, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby injected air intravenously into the bloodstream of the baby boy. COUNT 1 GUILTY.
Child B, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby attempted to murder the baby girl, the twin sister of Child A, by injecting air into her bloodstream. COUNT 2 GUILTY.
Child C, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said Letby forced air down a feeding tube and into the stomach of the baby boy. COUNT 3 GUILTY.
Child D, allegation of murder. The Crown said air was injected intravenously into the baby girl. COUNT 4 GUILTY.
Child E, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby murdered the twin baby boy with an injection of air into the bloodstream and also deliberately caused bleeding to the infant. COUNT 5 GUILTY.
Child F, allegation of attempted murder. Letby was said by prosecutors to have poisoned the twin brother of Child E with insulin. COUNT 6 GUILTY.
Child I, allegation of murder. The prosecution said Letby killed the baby girl at the fourth attempt and had given her air and overfed her with milk. COUNT 12 GUILTY.
Child K, allegation of attempted murder. The prosecution said Letby compromised the baby girl as she deliberately dislodged a breathing tube. COUNT 14 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT AT ORIGINAL TRIAL, NOW GUILTY AFTER RETRIAL
Child L, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said the nurse poisoned the twin baby boy with insulin. COUNT 15 GUILTY.
Child M, allegation of attempted murder. Prosecutors said Letby injected air into the bloodstream of Child L's twin brother. COUNT 16 GUILTY.
Child N, three allegations of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby inflicted trauma in the baby boy's throat and also injected him with air in the bloodstream. COUNT 17 GUILTY, COUNT 18 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT, COUNT 19 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT.
Child O, allegation of murder. Prosecutors say Letby attacked the triplet boy by injecting him with air, overfeeding him with milk and inflicting trauma to his liver with "severe force". COUNT 20 GUILTY.
Child P, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said the nurse targeted the triplet brother of Child O by overfeeding him with milk, injecting air and dislodging his breathing tube. COUNT 21 GUILTY.
Child Q, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby injected the baby boy with liquid, and possibly air, down his feeding tube. COUNT 22 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT
Responding to Davies' concerns about the Lucy Letby case, a Cheshire police spokesperson told The Guardian: "A disciplinary hearing in February 2023 found allegations of gross misconduct by Stephanie Davies unrelated to the Lucy Letby case to be proved and had she not already resigned, she would have been dismissed without notice.
'Cheshire Constabulary strongly refute the credibility of these claims.'
The court of appeal twice last year refused Letby's permission to appeal.
Her lawyer, Mark McDonald, has applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), arguing that the convictions are unsafe and should be referred back to the court of appeal.
Earlier this month it emerged Lucy Letby could be facing more charges over the deaths of babies at hospitals she worked at.
Cheshire Police have been investigating further 'deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies'.
Letby is understood to have carried out two work placements at Liverpool Women's Hospital - where she trained as a student - between October and December 2012, and January and February 2015.
And it comes after three people - who were in senior leadership roles at the Countess of Chester Hospital - were arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter as part of an investigation into the baby deaths.
In a statement, a spokesman for the CPS said: "We will now carefully consider the evidence to determine whether any further criminal charges should be brought.
"As always, we will make that decision independently, based on the evidence and in line with our legal test."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Killer of British backpacker Peter Falconio in Australia dies
The killer of British backpacker Peter Falconio has died. Bradley John Murdoch, who was convicted in 2005 of murdering Mr Falconio, 28, and assaulting his girlfriend Joanne Lees at gunpoint, died after being moved to palliative care last month. Mr Falconio and Ms Lees, both from Yorkshire, were travelling across the country in a camper van when they were ambushed by Murdoch on the Stuart Highway, an isolated road that runs through the centre of Australia, on July 14 2001. Murdoch was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for at least 28 years. Murdoch, 67, was diagnosed with terminal throat cancer in 2019 and was moved to palliative care from Alice Springs Correctional Centre last month, according to local media reports. The Northern Territory Government Department of Corrections said on Tuesday that there had been a death in custody and the coroner would be informed. Mr Falconio and Ms Lees had been driving near the tiny settlement of Barrow Creek, around 188 miles north of Alice Springs, when Murdoch pulled up beside them claiming to have seen sparks coming from their van. He shot Mr Falconio in the head as he inspected the vehicle, before forcing Ms Lees into his vehicle and binding her wrists with cable ties. She managed to escape, hiding in the Outback for hours before flagging down a passing truck. During the trial, prosecutors argued that Murdoch was likely to have disposed of the backpacker's body somewhere in the vast, remote expanse of desert between Alice Springs and Broome, covering more than 1,200 miles. Despite repeated searches, Mr Falconio's body has never been found. Ms Lees, who returned to the UK, told Australian current affairs programme 60 Minutes in 2017 that she still wanted to 'bring him home'. ' Pete lost his life on that night, but I lost mine too,' she said at the time. 'I'll never be fully at peace if Pete's not found, but I accept that that is a possibility.' Murdoch lodged several unsuccessful appeals over the years, with Australia's highest court refusing to hear his case in 2007. Last month police announced a new 500,000 Australian dollar (about £240,000) reward for information leading to the discovery of Mr Falconio's remains.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Pupils to be taught strangulation is illegal to tackle ‘incel culture'
Strangulation will be taught as a criminal offence under new Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) guidance published on Tuesday, as part of an overhaul of the curriculum in England. For the first time, pupils will be explicitly taught that strangulation — applying pressure to someone's neck or covering their mouth and nose — is illegal, even if it doesn't cause visible injury. The revised guidance, the first significant update since 2020, will push secondary schools to tackle the growing influence of the 'manosphere' and incel culture, as well as emerging harms linked to pornography. However, critics said the government had watered down a previous draft, which sought to counter 'trans activist' positions. Schools will also be told not to use oversimplified diagrams or cartoons to teach about gender identity, such as the 'Genderbread Person', which had been used in some lessons provided by external providers. These can risk misleading pupils or encouraging them to question their gender unnecessarily, the guidance said. The new guidance said schools should be careful not to endorse any particular view or teach it as fact, including that all people have a gender identity. It added: 'Schools should be mindful to avoid any suggestion that social transition is a simple solution to feelings of distress or discomfort.' • Abuse claims and rape culture identified at 1,600 primary schools Pupils will be taught how online content, including AI-manipulated images and deepfakes, can distort perceptions of women, sex, and consent, which the Department for Education guidance said can 'portray misogynistic behaviours and attitudes', influencing those who watch it. Boys will also be encouraged to identify positive male role models and to challenge online misogyny. Sexual harassment, including unwanted touching, sexual language, upskirting, revenge porn and sharing intimate images without consent, will also be covered in detail. The overhaul of RSHE comes after a government consultation raised alarm over inconsistent teaching and controversial materials used by third-party providers. The Labour government scrapped earlier Conservative plans to ban sex education for children under the age of nine. Instead, the guidance advises that it should not begin before Year 5, while giving schools the flexibility to teach it earlier. The revised mandatory curriculum will be introduced in all mainstream schools from September. Mental health education will start in primary school, focusing on emotions, loneliness, bullying and seeking help. In secondary schools, suicide prevention will be taught with guidance from mental health professionals, avoiding graphic or emotive content. Other newly added topics include suicide prevention, loneliness, gambling, virginity testing, bereavement, parenting, menstrual and gynaecological health, and antimicrobial resistance. Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, warned that the expanded content risks overwhelming schools. 'The new guidance asks schools to teach more content with only the same amount of time available,' he said. 'Government cannot continue to impose additions to the curriculum without proposing how the additional teaching time needed is to be found.' Whiteman also criticised the lack of support for suicide prevention teaching: 'NAHT has particular concerns that the inclusion of suicide prevention content has not been accompanied by a commitment from the government to provide funded training for all teachers to give them both the knowledge and the confidence they need to discuss suicide prevention and self-harm with young people.' The guidance for schools has been overhauled by the government GETTY IMAGES The government said the changes were designed to reflect modern challenges facing children and equip them with the knowledge to stay safe and make informed choices. The guidance will be reviewed again before it becomes statutory in 2026. Helen Joyce, the director of Sex Matters, which campaigns for clarity on single-sex services, said: 'It's welcome that Bridget Phillipson is warning schools not to use simplistic graphics that perpetuate stereotypes or encourage children to question their gender. Far too much harm has already been done by sexist and frankly stupid teaching materials that lie to children by telling them it's your personality and interests that determine whether you're a boy or a girl.' She added: 'It's a big shame that the Department for Education has watered down sections of the draft guidance it inherited from the previous government, which sought to counter the trans activist positions adopted by many schools over the past decade. Instead of warning schools not to teach about the broader concept of gender identity, it now says pupils should not be taught that everyone has a gender identity. 'We're concerned that the DfE still doesn't seem to have grasped the harm caused by so-called social transition in schools.' • A spokeswoman for Bayswater Support Group of parents of children with transgender identities said: 'The new RSHE guidance fails to address the serious safeguarding issues around teaching gender identity to children, including the implicit message that children could have an inner identity that means their body needs fixing. 'As well as significantly weakening the clarity offered by the earlier draft guidance, this version introduces topics which are likely to be harmful to vulnerable children. For example, direct teaching about suicide may actually undermine suicide prevention strategies.'
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Children at risk of being recruited by hostile states, police warn
Counter-terror police have warned the activity of hostile states on British soil is posing a growing threat and urged families to watch for signs their children are being along with petty criminals and disillusioned people, may be more vulnerable to recruitment by Russia, Iran and China, they states are increasingly using proxies to carry out acts of sabotage and targeted violence in the UK, counter-terror police said, adding that investigating such activity now accounts for about 20% of their and teachers should "be inquisitive" and "seek help" if they think a child is at risk, police advised. Since the Salisbury poisonings in 2018 – which targeted Russian double agent Sergei Skripal – there has been a five-fold increase in police work to tackle hostile activity, commanders said."The breadth, complexity and volume of these operations has continued to grow at a rate that I'm not sure that us, or our partners internationally, or any intelligence community predicted," Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter-Terrorism Command, told reporters."We are increasingly seeing these three states, but not just these three states, undertaking threat to life operations in the United Kingdom."The youngest person arrested or investigated on suspicion of involvement is aged in their "mid-teens", he Evans, Counter Terrorism Policing's senior national co-ordinator, expressed concern other children may be encouraged online to carry out activities to earn money, without realising the implications of their actions."We really encourage people, parents, teachers, professionals just to be inquisitive," she said."If they're concerned, ask those questions, and if they think there's something they need to be concerned about, seek help and act, because we want to make sure that we're protecting people from inadvertently being drawn into this sort of activity."The Metropolitan Police is now putting additional resources into tackling hostile state activity, with training for officers in "foreign interference" and hundreds taking part in recent exercises in how to respond."We're working with local force chiefs up and down the country to raise awareness and ensure that there really is an increased understanding about this threat," Ms Evans this month, two low-level criminals were among five people convicted of involvement in an arson attack on a warehouse storing communications equipment for said the attack had been ordered by Russia's Wagner group, and that one of the ringleaders, 21-year-old Dylan Earl, had been plotting to kidnap its owner, a Russian dissident. The Met said it was also dealing with a "high volume" of threats from Iran, focused on those considered to be opponents of the Islamic Republic."We know that they are continuing to try and sow violence on the streets of the United Kingdom, they too are to some extent relying on criminal proxies to do that," Mr Murphy use of criminal proxies offers "arms-length deniability," according to Ms Evans, who blames the rising threat on the "continued erosion of the rule-based international order".The warnings came in the first specific briefing for journalists from counter-terrorism police on the threat of hostile state activity."Foreign regimes are more willing than ever to undertake aggressive actions overseas," Ms Evans said.
