How Euro '96 hero Paul Gascoigne won the nation's hearts before booze battles which left him homeless & close to death
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HE'S the sporting hero who helped take England to the semi-finals of Euro '96 and as been hailed as the most "naturally talented English footballer of his generation" .
But Paul Gascoigne's life off the pitch has been plagued by addiction and ill-health that has left him homeless and, at times, close to death.
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Paul Gascoigne has been hospitalised after being discovered unconscious at home
Credit: Dan Charity / The Sun
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The footballer achieved 57 caps for England
Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
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But his life has also been plagued by alcohol
Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Having 'died' twice, survived an 18-day coma and horror drink-drug binges, he has previously claimed to have 'more lives than a cat'.
It's claimed Gazza, 58, is now in a 'stable' condition and being monitored in an acute medical unit after he was discovered semi-conscious at home on Friday evening.
Fans who have watched him bounce back numerous times will be hoping the new health scare is just another temporary blip for the former England ace, after he was rushed to an intensive care ward.
Pal Steve Foster says hospital was 'the best possible place for him to be right now' and thanked well-wishers who 'want to see him back at his best'.
It's yet another scare for the embattled addict, whose post-footballing career has been characterised by drug and alcohol battles.
He once claimed to have survived for four months without food or water on a deadly daily intake of four bottles of whiskey and 'about 16 lines of coke'.
By his own admission, he's a medical marvel, as he previously said: 'I'm not scared of anything, because of what I've been through in my life."
Gazza's issues predate the drinking demons of his footballing career - stretching back to his childhood growing up in County Durham.
He has previously spoken about childhood trauma from witnessing his parents' violent arguments and later domestic abuse between his three siblings.
At the age of ten, Gazza was scarred by tragedy, after watching his brother's friend Steven Spraggon die in his arms.
Rangers icon Paul Gascoigne makes surprise Match of the Day appearance as footie greats pay tribute to Gary Lineker
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Paul with ex-wife Sheryl, who he shares three kids with
Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
He was 'mucking around' outside a local shop when he ran into the road and was knocked down by an ice cream truck.
"I was on my own with him for what seemed like ages," Gascoigne revealed in his 2005 autobiography Gazza. "It was the first dead body I'd ever seen.
'I felt Stephen's death was my fault. I still go over the accident in my mind. Just speaking of it can make me cry."
His hod-carrier father John lived away in Germany for a year while searching for work and his mum had to take three jobs to make ends meet.
When John returned, he suffered a brain hemorrhage that meant he would never work again, furthering the family instability for his kids.
"It was around this time I started displaying peculiar twitches and making lots of noises," Gazza said.
By 13, his mental health declined. He could no longer sleep without lights on and sought psychiatric help for depression and a slot machine addiction, which he shoplifted to fund.
Gazza's one escape was on the pitch, where he admitted: "I didn't have twitches or worry about death when I was playing football."
He impressed while playing at Redheugh Boys' Club and Gateshead Boys youth teams before being signed as an apprentice for Newcastle United on his 16th birthday.
When I'm drinking, I forget about everyone and don't realise the hurt I'm doing to everyone but I've also got to think about the hurt I was doing to myself
Gazza
There, Gazza excelled, including scoring a 30-yard screamer in the Youth Cup final, which manager Jack Charlton remarked: 'You'll have to wait a thousand years to see that again."
He went on to become one of the most successful midfielders ever, playing for Newcastle and Tottenham, before moving to Lazio, and earning 57 England caps.
He also provided one of the game's most iconic moments - when a yellow card in the 1990 World Cup semis in Turin saw him leave the pitch in tears.
As "Gazzamania" gripped the UK, Terry Wogan described him as "probably the most popular man in Britain today" in September 1990.
But off the pitch, he was developing more unhealthy habits including binging on Mars bars and junk food, which would later lead to him purging to lose weight ahead of matches.
It would lead to a destructive relationship with alcohol that, in 1998, would lead to him being first admitted to the Priory Hospital following hitting 'rock bottom' after downing 32 whisky shots in a night.
He would have at least seven more stints at various rehabs including a prestigious Arizona spot, which cost £100,000, and a £6,000-a-month Southampton clinic, and has been sectioned multiple times.
"I'm an alcoholic like George [Best] and I know that - in some ways - my behaviour has been even more self-destructive than his. George never took cocaine,' Gazza later would admit.
Raoul Moat stand-off
A decade on from his first rehab stint, he was sectioned under the mental health act after threatening self-harm and holding a night porter by the throat after a 3am fire alarm in a hotel.
Later that year, Gazza tried to end his life with alcohol and drugs but thankfully medics saved his life. While he spent spates sober in the coming years, he was continuously dogged by addiction.
The dizzying heights of fame he reached in football - making 57 appearances for England and playing for clubs including Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio, Rangers, Middlesbrough and Everton - were becoming overshadowed by his struggles.
Notably in 2010, during killer Raoul Moat's stand-off with police, an intoxicated Gazza showed up near a police cordon claiming he could convince him to hand himself in by taking him fishing.
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Gazza at one point was drinking four bottles of whisky a night
Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
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The ex-footballer has had many admissions to rehab
Credit: Action Images - Reuters
'I just remember that I was in a taxi, I had a fishing rod, some chicken, four cans of lager and a fishing jacket,' the footballer later told The Mirror. Fortunately, he was turned away.
He added: 'I was telling the taxi driver I could save him. I told him: 'Listen, I have been through so much, I am the best therapist in the world, I can save him'. I think that I genuinely believed that.'
That same year, he was charged with drink driving twice, including once being four times over the limit, and skipped his sentencing hearing to enter rehab.
"He is not here because he has decided to put himself in for treatment, that's the bit that causes me concern. Who's running the show?" the judge said.
Gazza would spend three years sober until 2013 when he succumbed to binges. At the time he complained: 'The last 11 years, I've probably drank 14 months out of it.
'I was three years sober and then I had a four or five weeks binge. It's just those little binges, so I've just got to stop those binges.
"When I'm drinking, I forget about everyone and don't realise the hurt I'm doing to everyone but I've also got to think about the hurt I was doing to myself.'
'More lives than a cat'
Despite falling off the wagon, he said: 'I don't know if I'm ever going to touch a drink again. I just know that I'm not drinking today.'
In 2014, Gaza was admitted to rehab again - for the seventh time - and later that year was hospitalised twice due to his drinking.
Struggles have continued to plague the widely-beloved footballer, who said in a 2021 interview that he will 'always be an alcoholic' but that he was attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings .
I have had near-death experiences, 36 operations, I've died a couple of times and they've put me in a coma for 18 days
Gazza
The dad-of-three, who previously admitted being physically violent against his first wife Sheryl, last year revealed he was homeless and sleeping in a spare room at his agent Katie Davies' house in Poole, Dorset.
"I called Katie up in November a few years ago crying my eyes out,' he said. 'What I put myself through and other people, jail and rehab - taking cocaine off toilet seats."
Gazza described himself as a 'sad drunk' and that he has 'let myself down' falling into the grips of alcoholism since his playing career finished.
'The things I've put myself through, I'm lucky to still be sitting here,' he told The High Performance Podcast. 'I don't go out and drink. I drink indoors.'
He said if he wanted to 'make it a bad day' he would 'go down the pub' and once recoiled after a boozy session, to see '30 messages or missed calls' from worried loved ones.
Gazza has been open about his battles, revealing he too believes he has 'more lives than a cat' due to surviving death multiple times and often appears to be consumed with regret.
'I have had near-death experiences, 36 operations, I've died a couple of times and they've put me in a coma for 18 days,' he said.
'People know Paul Gascoigne but Gazza, no one knows, even me sometimes. I've spent a lot of years being down.
'When I did my ligaments and then my kneecap, I missed four years of football. I would've got 100 caps.'
Sadly, just weeks before his most recent hospitalisation, Gazza seemed optimistic, stating that he felt 'better now than I have in years'
'I hope I am at a point that I can look back over everything I've gone through with a different, more positive, perspective," he said.
This recent scare suggests the battle may not be over for the beleaguered legend - but as ever, the beloved figure will have an army of well-wishers hoping he has a speedy recovery.
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Scottish Sun
6 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Bizarre decision by hospital could PROVE killer nurse Lucy Letby was being used as scapegoat for failings, claims expert
A BIZARRE hospital decision could prove baby killer nurse Lucy Letby was being used as a scapegoat for overall failings, an expert has told The Sun. The neonatal ward at Countess of Chester Hospital (COCH) was experiencing a major spike in premature infant deaths in 2015, which tailed off dramatically when it was stopped from receiving the highest risk patients the following summer. 9 Lucy Letby was convicted of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of seven more Credit: PA 9 A grab from footage of the serial baby killer's arrest Credit: PA 9 The deaths occurred between 2015 and 2016 Credit: Getty Monster Letby, 35, is serving a whole life order in prison for the murder of seven infants and the attempted murder of seven more at COCH between June 2015 and June 2016. Professor Richard Gill, a statistical misrepresentation consultant who has helped overturn the murder convictions of two other nurses, is convinced convicted murderer Letby was an unlucky scapegoat. He is among an increasing number of supporters who believe Letby to be innocent, and has been pushing for a retrial - although many others, including the victims' families, have blasted the campaign to free her. He believes the failure to move such patients to more suitable hospitals could prove vital in any potentially successful appeal against her convictions. And thinks clinical audits being undertaken could be a reason why Liverpool Women's Hospital did not take them, despite its neonatal unit being graded much higher. COCH's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was graded at level 2 at the time. Guidelines generally advise any such facility treating the most seriously ill babies should be at level 3. In fact, COCH's neonatal unit was downgraded again to level 1 by hospital management in July 2016, 'due to concerns about increasing neonatal mortality', ahead of an inquiry by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH). The unit's lead neonatologist, Dr Stephen Brearey, had asked management to remove killer Letby from clinical duties the previous month, pending an investigation into her conduct. She wouldn't be arrested until 2018. Dr Breary was suspicious of the nurse in 2015 and accused the hospital of negligence for ignoring his concerns, according to reports in 2023. The downgrade limited the premature babies that it took into its care to those born at 32 weeks' gestation or over, an age where the medical complications and risks were much lower. How Dutch Lucy Letby who was CLEARED over murder of seven patients, including babies, is 'key to freeing jailed nurse' And, as a result, the spike in baby deaths also tailed off - pointing to overall inability to provide complex care properly being a reason for deaths and not a single nurse, claims Prof Gill. Seven of the babies Letby was convicted of murdering or attempting to murder were either a twin or a triplet, all extremely ill and at higher risk of complications, and so ideally in need of complex level 3 care. Speaking to The Sun, Prof Gill said the babies should have been 'transferred immediately' to a more specialised environment, including that at Liverpool Women's Hospital (LWH), where some had initially been monitored during pregnancy. 'It was hopeless,' he said. 'Chester was receiving babies that should have been born at a level 3 hospital. The doctors there did not have the experience.' Prof Gill said it is not clear why the babies were admitted to or remained at COCH. Two of the seven babies Letby was convicted of murdering - Child O and Child P - were from a brood of extremely rare identical triplets whose mum had received at least some antenatal care at LWH before giving birth at COCH. According to medical summaries, released post-trial as part of an independent expert review, some appeared to be developing issues that only multiple babies sharing a single placenta experience, in that the blood was not being shared evenly to each sibling during the pregnancy, called twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). 'It puts them at incredibly high risk,' said Prof Gill. He described LWH as 'one of the best places in the world to have twins and triplets', adding: 'Why did the doctors allow that mother to have those babies at Chester? They should not have been born there.' Last year, the Thirlwall Inquiry investigated issues at the hospital during the period of Letby's spree to determine if management could have done more to stop her crimes. In the lead up to the probe, reports of concerns about the alarming shortcomings at COCH included unusually high death rates on the neonatal unit, as well as understaffed and under skilled staff, and a unit "out of its depth", The Guardian reported as part of its own investigation. In a transcript from the Thirlwall Inquiry, led by senior court of appeal judge Lady Justice Thirlwall, a witness statement from the mum of triplets O and P, as well surviving brother R, said she was only told she was having triplets in the 12th week of her pregnancy. 9 Letby tried to get an inquiry into the circumstances around the baby deaths suspended 9 The killer nurse has twice failed to appeal her convictions Credit: SWNS 9 A court sketch of Letby during her trial at Manchester Crown Court last year Credit: PA She was scanned at COCH as it was "more convenient" for her, but was then referred to LWH by her consultant for a second scan - though they were happy to care for her at COCH long-term, adding: "They could refer back to LWH if there were any problems along the way." The mum went on say: "At LWH I was told that one of the triplets was a little smaller than the other two, and as all three triplets were sharing one placenta. "I was given the option of having the smaller triplet's heartbeat stopped to give the two others a better chance of survival. We decided against this and to let things be." She added: "I did not actually expect our babies to be born at COCH, I was explicitly told throughout my pregnancy that they would be born there only if there was a nurse and a bed for each baby. "I was told that for this reason, it was very unlikely that I would actually have them at the COCH. I was warned by consultants that it was likely that we would have to travel to another hospital. "We were told that this could be Birmingham or London, but we had to be ready to go anywhere." However, the mum said it was only when she went into labour that she was told she would be giving birth at COCH, being assured "there were enough nurses and beds" to deliver her babies. She said consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Jim McCormack assured her she would be able to look around the hospital's neonatal unit, but "in the event" this was "put off and I was not given the opportunity to look around and see the unit". "We were told that the probability of us being there would be low. "That said, we had not experienced a Neonatal Unit before so we had nothing to compare it with anyway. 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 "I was given to understand throughout my pregnancy that on delivery the babies would need to go to the Neonatal Unit as a precaution due to the risk factors that come with a triplet pregnancy and them having to be born at 34 weeks." When she started having contractions at home she was rushed to COCH but described how, despite her condition, she had to walk from the observation room to the labour ward to theatre to undergo a cesarean section - even asked to climb into bed herself. The mum added it was "very disappointing" that Dr McCormack, who had performed all of her scans, was on holiday and unable to deliver her babies. She was awake during the delivery, which she described as feeling "very rushed", and at one stage, after being cut open, she could feel pain. She described how "blood and fluid splattered up" onto the screen, the wall behind her and "onto my face". At one stage, she said it was hurting but was told "I don't think that is hurting, it's pulling". Later in her statement, the mum described doctors initially had "no concerns" about the babies, despite being so premature, and recalls Letby looking after two of them and showing her partner how to feed all three triplets. "She told us how lucky we were and that their weights were great," she added. Letby also showed the mum how to "express milk", and added her babies were separated as there was a shortage of beds in the neonatal unit. While staying in the maternity ward, the mum was told by a doctor Child O needed breathing support and she was taken to neonatal unit to see him. "We were confronted with a scene of complete chaos. It was madness," she said. "Nurses were running around left and right grabbing medicines and IVs. 9 Lady Justice Thirlwall, who led an inquiry into possible failings at Countess of Chester last year Credit: PA 9 Letby during her police interview in 2018 Credit: Derbyshire Constabulary 9 Prof Richard Gill is convinced Letby is innocent "As soon as I went in, I knew it was an issue with one of the boys. When Doctor U saw what was going on, it was obvious he didn't have any idea what was happening and I could see in his face that he was panicked and shocked." She added: "It was clear Child O's collapse was a complete shock to them." The mum said Letby was on the ward at the time and was handing doctors medicine. Child O died later that evening, and his brother Child P, died the following afternoon. During Letby's trial, it was heard the father of the triplets "begged" doctors to transfer his surviving son to LWH and they eventually agreed, and his health quickly recovered. Earlier this year, an international panel of neonatologists and paediatric specialists said Letby's convictions were "unsafe" and told reporters bad medical care and natural causes were the reasons for the collapses and deaths. Their evidence has been passed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, and Letby's legal team hopes her case will be referred back to the Court of Appeal. Neena Modi, Professor of neonatal medicine at Imperial College London, was part of the panel and told The Guardian in February Chester's neonatal unit was 'not staffed or equipped to deal with the most seriously ill babies'. She went on to say: 'What transpired was that the consultants and other neonatal staff were faced with having to provide care for complex neonatal cases outside their experience. I watched arrogant Lucy Letby as she simmered in the dock & saw chilling evidence that proves she IS an evil baby killer By Nigel Bunyan IN the eyes of the law she's a cold-blooded serial killer who murdered seven babies and tried to kill seven others at the hospital where she worked during a year-long reign of terror. But doubts over Lucy Letby's guilt have been slowly gaining traction, with her supporters - who include prominent politicians - expressing growing fears she was the victim of a miscarriage of justice. The killer nurse, 35, is serving 15 whole-life orders in prison for the murder of seven babies between 2015 and 2016 at Countess of Chester hospital. She was also found guilty in 2023 of trying to kill seven others, but has always maintained her innocence. Last week Reform leader Nigel Farage said there were 'serious questions' about the case which have left him with a 'horrible feeling' Letby might have been a 'very convenient scapegoat' and should be retried. Meanwhile Conservative MP David Davis is convinced her conviction is a 'clear miscarriage of justice'. But earlier this month it emerged Letby could be facing more charges over the deaths of babies at hospitals she worked in. Nigel Bunyan has been a journalist for more than four decades and covered the trials of GP Harold Shipman, the child killers of James Bulger, and the Rochdale grooming gang. He attended Lucy Letby's main trial and the retrial that followed. As her case attracts more scrutiny than ever before, here Nigel details why he believes "beyond doubt" that she IS guilty, and that justice prevailed... IN the make-believe, boxset world of Netflix, Disney+ and the like, Lucy Letby just HAS to be innocent! A prominent Tory MP has said so. So too has Letby's shiny new defence barrister and a group of international experts who've rallied, unbidden, to her cause, without having been anywhere near either trial. The only catch is that in the real world – the one not liberally sprinkled with fairy dust theories of perceived innocence – Letby is the real deal. She actually IS a nailed-on serial killer of tiny, defenceless babies. After attending her trial - and the retrial that followed it - I have no doubt whatsoever of her guilt. She is serving a whole life term for seven murders and seven attempted murders after being found guilty not just by one jury – but by TWO. Sadly, serial killers don't come with an identifying mark on their foreheads. And they don't always confess. But I watched every moment of her evidence at Manchester Crown Court, looking for some spark of authenticity, of humanity; something to make me doubt the prosecution case. I looked in vain. All I could see was a defendant standing behind a blank, unyielding wall of denials. She was a woman shielding herself with simmering resentment, sullen in the dock and equally so when giving evidence. Dr Harold Shipman had something of the same aura – arrogant to the end, content to simply deny all charges. By the time Letby was called to give evidence we'd already seen the now-infamous Post-it notes she scribbled in the bedroom of her house around the corner from the Countess of Chester hospital where she committed her crimes. 'I am evil. I did this,' she'd written. 'I killed them on purpose because I'm not good enough to care for them (and) I am a horrible person.' Her supporters looked to other lines that could be interpreted as indicators of innocence. 'I haven't done anything wrong,' for example. And, 'Why me?' For all that the evidence against Letby was largely – and inevitably - circumstantial, taken as a whole it was totally convincing on all but a few of the charges. It's one thing to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but in her case that happened far too many times. Her colleagues who saw her as a friend didn't want to 'think the unthinkable' - that she was the enemy within - but eventually they had no option. It wasn't just the statistical oddities about her presence; it was an innate feeling of unease among those who had once trusted her without question. Far too many babies were collapsing on the unit for there to be any other explanation than sabotage by a member of staff. And there were no other suspects. For me, the case finally fell into place as I spent long nights compiling a 17,000-word timeline. Suddenly, for all the woolliness of the case as it unfolded in court, I could see how Letby had moved so deftly in the shadows, aided by her colleagues' understandable reluctance to believe ill of her. Many of them counted her as a friend, and when she broke down in apparent distress over the infants dying on her watch, they instinctively reached out in support. Letby's cynical manipulation is typified by the very first of her killings: one day volunteering to take group selfies during a colleague's hen-do in York, the next injecting Baby A with air 90 minutes after coming back on duty in Chester. Before the jury reached their verdict I knew what it should be. And the court of social media who protest her innocence may have taken a different view if they had seen all the evidence, as I have. During the trial a chilling image was shown to the jury: the X-ray of one of the dead babies, showing a line of what could only be air running parallel to his spine. And the only explanation for that air was for it to have been forced into the infant's system. Which is how Lucy Letby achieved something that the reviewing paediatrician Sandie Bohin had never previously seen in neonates – she made some of them scream. Had the prosecution found the courage to release that image some doubters may be silenced. But the CPS refused, saying it formed part of an individual's medical records. Medical expertise Much has been made of the international panel of medical experts drawn together by Letby's new barrister, Mark McDonald. But it is hugely significant that Ben Myers, the lawyer who led her defence in both trials, made the very deliberate decision NOT to call ANY of the medical experts he had briefed on the case. In fact, the only defence witness aside from Letby was Lorenzo Mansutti, a plumber, who spoke briefly about drainage problems at the Countess. Myers' reasoning was clearly tactical, perhaps made because he doubted the ability of those potential witnesses to counter the allegations that Letby harmed babies mostly with injections of air or insulin. Any future appeal is likely to fall short unless McDonald can come up with a satisfactory answer to Myers' decision. Ultimately the jury was swayed by the assertion of Nick Johnson KC, the lead prosecutor, that Letby had been caught out by 'a constellation of coincidences' that had no other plausible explanation. For all the protests to the contrary, I don't believe for one second that Letby was set up as a scapegoat. She was simply found out by colleagues who finally realised she was the killer in their midst. Almost two years on, we now have the prospect of Letby facing a third trial. On top of that three members of the leadership team at the Countess were arrested last week on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter and may yet face trial themselves. And then there is the Thirlwall Inquiry into the killer's activities and the conduct of NHS personnel at the time. It's due to report next year. So all in all, overwhelmingly bad news for those wearing yellow butterfly emblems in support of their fake heroine. Genuine miscarriages of justice do occur. Of course they do. But they're extremely rare. Years ago, for example, I wrote about Stefan Kiszko, who was exonerated over a murder he couldn't possibly have committed. But Letby? I just don't see it. More than that, I abhor the white noise repeatedly being drummed up in her name - often by people who should know better - while Letby herself remains silent; brooding in HMP Prison Bronzefield, Surrey. For me, as for the families, hers is a name that speaks only of sickening cruelty and betrayal. As one of the mums said recently: 'You don't want to see her face, you don't want to hear her name, you don't want to hear people shouting that she's innocent. "She's not innocent, she was found guilty in a court of law." 'Their contemporaneous notes in the babies' case records reveal errors in the recognition of problems and their management.' Around the time of the Letby crimes, Prof Gill told The Sun some mothers going through high-risk pregnancies would have also been part of clinical audits and trials at various hospitals, including testing the now-standard usage of laser treatment 'to fix the blood flow' in a uterus carrying multiple babies at risk of TTTS. In LWH's Quality Report 2015-2016, it states: "During 2015-16 Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust participated in 100% of national clinical audits and 100% of national confidential enquiries of the national clinical audits and national confidential enquiries which it was eligible to participate in." It added: 'The total monetary value of the income in 2015-16 conditional upon achieving quality improvement and innovation goals was £1,977,598. The monetary total for the associated payment in 2014-15 was £1,955,007.' It is unclear if any of the triplets, or Letby's other victims, saw their treatment directly impacted due to any kind of clinical audit or procedures, which would include the much-publicised National Maternity and Perinatal Audit. But it's possible that, any one of these may have impacted how many high risk pregnancies were dealt with at Liverpool, claims Prof Gill. In June 2015, the same month as the first deaths in Letby's rampage, MBRRACE-UK, the national body which collects data on perinatal mortality, showed LWH had made significant strides in reducing stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates. Specifically, their stillbirth rate was rated 10% below the national average. Prof Gill went on to say: 'If you have twins or triplets who have a very poor outlook then you might prefer that they died somewhere else. 'Now that's a very serious allegation, I don't think that. I mention it, and one might think that. 'I would rather think that out of some rules in their protocol that they were reserving beds for patients they could treat because that would give them good results. 'As a consequence, more babies got treated elsewhere than usual. I'm sure there is an honest explanation for that. But it is really weird.' He added: 'My feeling is this would all need to be looked into if Lucy Letby is ever exonerated and there is an inquiry into what went wrong.' A spokesperson at the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: 'Due to the Thirlwall Inquiry and the ongoing police investigations, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.' NHS England did not wish to comment when approached. The Sun has also contacted Liverpool Womens NHS Foundation Trust but had not received a response before publication. Do you know more? Email
Daily Mirror
14 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
UKHSA issues vaccine alert over illness that can turn serious
This disease can even prove fatal, and one child died earlier this year Health experts have issued an urgent vaccine warning over an illness that can turn 'serious'. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is urging people to ensure their children are protected against measles. This call comes as the UK has seen a decline in the uptake of the MMR jab, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, in recent years. As a result, many countries, including the UK, have seen a rise in measles cases. The disease, which is typically characterised by a rash, usually clears up after a week. But in serious cases it can go on to cause a number of dangerous complications such as pneumonia, meningitis, blindness and seizures (fits). This can even prove fatal and earlier this month it was reported that a child had died of measles in Liverpool. In an update posted to social media platform X, the UKHSA said: 'Measles can be a serious illness. 'More than one in 10 children haven't had the MMR vaccine and they need two doses to get full protection. Doses are usually given at one year old and three years four months old, but you can catch up missed doses later.' On its website, the UKHSA further warned that there were 2,911 laboratory confirmed measles cases in England last year, the highest number of cases recorded annually since 2012. Most of these cases were in unvaccinated children under the age of 10. There has also been a resurgence of measles in Europe after the COVID-19 pandemic. Measles cases in Europe doubled in 2024 compared to the previous year, with a staggering 127,350 reported cases. This figure represents the highest number since 1997. Outbreaks have been documented in several European nations, including France, Italy, Spain and Germany. The World Health Organisation (WHO) also disclosed that Romania, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Nigeria currently have among the largest number of measles cases globally. The importance of vaccines The UKHSA has linked the surge in cases across England to a decrease in vaccination rates. In a briefing earlier this year, it highlighted: "In England, the decline of the uptake of childhood vaccinations including MMR in the past decade (well below the WHO 95 per cent target) means that many thousands of children are left unprotected with the risk of outbreaks linked to nurseries and schools." London is at the bottom of the league for MMR vaccinations in comparison to other regions in England, with a five-year uptake rate of just 73.3 per cent against the English average of 83.9 per cent. The UKHSA warned: "The UKHSA is concerned that more outbreaks may occur again on a larger scale this summer as families with unvaccinated children and adults travel to countries where there are outbreaks. "It is important that anyone travelling for summer holidays or to visit family, especially parents of young children, check that all members of their family have received both their MMR vaccines." The first dose of MMR is currently offered to infants when they turn one and the second dose to pre-school children when they are around three years and four months old. This is due to change, however, so children turning one on July 1, and 18 months on January 1, 2026, will get their second MMR dose earlier - at 18 months instead of three years four months. Your GP surgery should contact you when your child is due the vaccine. You should speak to your GP surgery if: You have not been contacted to get your child's MMR vaccine Your child has missed their MMR vaccine, or you're not sure if they've had both doses of the vaccine You think you might need the MMR vaccine Your child has a temperature and is due to have the vaccine – they may need to wait until they're feeling better before having the vaccine You need to change a vaccination appointment Symptoms The primary indicators of measles include high fever, coughing, sneezing, red and sore watery eyes, followed by a rash after these initial symptoms. Without prompt attention, measles may result in severe and sometimes deadly complications such as pneumonia, meningitis, blindness, and seizures (fits). You should request an urgent GP appointment or ring 111 if you suspect that you or your child may have measles.
The Herald Scotland
15 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Researchers warn of 'quiet crisis' facing NHS Scotland
This "lifeblood of future healthcare innovation" is "quietly being drained away," with a reported 30% drop in the most active cohort over the past decade. They cite a complex combination of factors, including a lack of ring-fenced funding to train and support clinical researchers, inequalities that lead to challenges for female and minority researchers, competitive disadvantages compared to English institutions, and extensive time commitments required to complete training and enter the profession. Despite the challenges, the authors highlight the important contributions of Scotland's clinical researchers and what is potentially at risk of the trend of decline continues. "In economic terms, investment in medical research pays dividends—every £1 spent returns around £1.25 annually to the wider economy. "Scotland has long punched above its weight in this field. From pioneering bowel cancer screening programmes using the faecal immunochemical test (FIT), now central to early detection efforts worldwide, to the EAVE-II platform, which was instrumental in understanding vaccine effectiveness during COVID-19, our clinical academics have delivered innovations with national and global impact." Prof Rory McCrimmon, one of the authors of the letter and Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Dundee, explained how these types of contributions are at risk of becoming increasingly scarce. He said that there are more academics over the age of 55 than under the age of 35. Clinical researchers now make up just 3% of the overall workforce, and only 0.6% of primary care workers are clinical researchers. Prof Rory McCrimmon has argued that clinical researchers need more practical and financial support in order to continue performing their life-saving work. (Image: University of Dundee) He added that the shrinking supply of clinical academics, combined with the baked-in challenges in the field, is adding immense stress on researchers. "It is undoubtedly harder to do out-of-programme research at the PhD or MD level, because obtaining funding for that is challenging. "Students leave university now with a larger amount of debt, and it takes a long time. It takes maybe ten to fifteen years to become a consultant. If you add a further three to five years of research on top of that, that's an incredibly long time to become a clinical academic. "I think it is also perceived to be really, really hard, because you are moving into a very competitive world." Read more: Prof Lorna Marson, Dean of Clinical Medicine at Edinburgh and a contributor to the open letter, said that clinical researchers have a significant impact on their patients and communities, in addition to their broader contributions to the economy and the field. "Research-active hospitals have better outcomes for their patients in terms of morbidity and mortality. "Also, engaging in clinical trials gives patients the opportunity to get expensive drugs for no cost. "There are many significant added values to being a patient in a research hospital, so we need to support that as much as we can." Prof Lorna Marson has said that barriers to people looking to break into clinical research should not distract from the passion that these academics have for their profession. (Image: University of Edinburgh) Prof Marson added that the decline in the number of clinical academics was not due to a lack of ambition in the profession and that better general support for researchers could make the career more feasible for many hopefuls. 'It's extraordinary that there are still a good number of people who want to do this. I think that demonstrates the huge commitment that people are bringing to this field, and therefore, we have to support them and help them if it's what they want to do. 'But it is exceptionally difficult for women who also want to have time out to have a family, or those who have caring responsibilities and wish to prolong their training. 'Using women as an example, we need to look for ways to support them not only to have time out to have families, but to undertake their research and continue in clinical academia. That is where we see the biggest drop-off, and it is not because they don't passionately want to stay. 'They just can't see a way through it.' All of this is against a backdrop of extreme competition for funding. Prof Ian McInnes CBE, co-author of the letter and Vice Principal and Head of College, College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences at the University of Glasgow, called it a 'sadness' that young researchers are facing barriers to the profession at a time when there are many new opportunities on the horizon. 'Increasingly, academicians of the future will be data scientists. They'll be computing scientists. They'll be business scientists with MBAs and organisational design specialists. 'One of the ambitions I have for Scotland is that we actually become a model for an incredibly diverse community of academic clinicians with expertise in so many different areas.' Due to the interconnectedness of the UK higher education sector, Scottish researchers and institutions are in direct competition with their English counterparts. But different structures and priorities mean they are not always on an even playing field, Prof McInnes explained. In England, for example, the time of clinical academics is often divided evenly between clinical work and research. However, in Scotland, the divide is closer to 80% clinical and 20% research time. 'That 80% grows arms and legs, because clinical medicine is busier, clinical surgery is busier, clinical psychiatry is busier. So we're at a substantial disadvantage in Scotland compared to England.' There are also significant financial awards available only in England, which can further limit opportunities for Scottish researchers. Despite this, Prof McInnes was clear that the situation is not a case of finding fault. The different structures north and south of the border represent different strategies and priorities. The Scottish Government is currently pursuing health innovation projects through its Accelerated National Innovation Adoption (ANIA) Pathway, which focuses on developing and implementing new health technologies across NHS Scotland. The programme recently committed £6 million to a project helping people with type 2 Diabetes, stroke patients and babies born with a rare genetic condition. In the end, Prof McInnes said he and his colleagues are making a call to find collaborative solutions to a common problem and preserve what he called 'fabulous careers.' 'Clinical academics enrich and embellish the quality of clinical care, and they do that by being part of that community. 'There is very good evidence that just being in a clinical trial leads to better long-term outcomes for most chronic conditions. Even if you just get a placebo, you become a beneficiary of an ecosystem that seeks the best option, not the most convenient option. 'Being a clinical academic is an incredibly enriching profession, and part of our concern is that the focus on funding and crisis in the NHS obscures the fantastically brilliant career that is available.' Health Secretary Neil Gray said clinical research is "vital" for both the NHS and the economy. 'The need and case for this plan and its actions is timely – in recent years, the sector has suffered from the impact of Brexit and from UK Government immigration policies which have stemmed the flow of international talent into research programmes. 'We continue to provide over £.1.1billion to universities each year, including over £368million for research and innovation. Our Chief Scientist Office also continues to provide various funding opportunities for clinical research, working closely with our academic community to deliver clinical trials, develop new research and fast-track new innovations and technologies which benefit Scottish patients. 'However, we recognise the challenges and opportunities highlighted in the recent MRC report and we will continue to collaborate closely with universities, the NHS and industry to maximise opportunities for clinical academics here in Scotland.'
