The public inquiry into Lucy Letby’s death should consider doubts about the safety of her conviction, a former minister has said.
Former Brexit Secretary David Davis has written to Lady Justice Thirlwall, the chair of the forthcoming inquiry into the events at the Countess of Chester Hospital, raising concerns that the terms of the inquiry are dependent on the assumption that Ms Letby’s conviction was safe.
Increasingly, experts have raised concerns about the case and there is growing concern within the NHS and the legal profession about the possibility that Letby is being made a scapegoat for the NHS’s failings.
In his letter, Sir David argues that the inquiry should be broad enough to consider alternative explanations for the deaths and allow evidence to address the concerns now raised about the safety of Ms Letby’s conviction.
Pictured: Lucy Letby who was sentenced to life in prison for killing babies in a neonatal unit
David Davis MP speaks to media outside the Royal Courts Of Justice in London in March
Sir David explains that “many experts have contacted him to express their concerns,” writing: “These experts range from Nobel laureates to heads of royal societies and royal colleges, and other leading experts in medicine, statistics, forensic science and health care.
‘I believe that the powers of investigation should at least be extended so that we are no longer dependent on the assumption that Ms Letby’s conviction was safe.’
He added: ‘The deaths may not have been the result of murder, but rather a systematic failure by a unit that was overstretched and underfunded.
‘Second, the deaths may have been caused by poor care of vulnerable newborn babies in the unit… Third, the deaths may have been caused by external factors, including infections such as a pseudomonas outbreak that the hospital reportedly struggled to control at the time of the deaths.’
A growing number of experts have raised concerns about the case and there is growing concern that Letby could be made a scapegoat for the NHS’s failings.
Supporters of ex-nurse Lucy Letby protest outside the High Court in London during her appeal.
Sir David plans to launch a campaign in the House of Commons to ask questions about the conviction.
Mail columnists Peter Hitchens and Nadine Dorries have highlighted that Letby was convicted of the murder of seven newborns and the attempted murder of six other babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital, despite the fact that no one saw her kill or attempt to kill a baby and there was no forensic evidence to prove her guilt.
Two prosecution witnesses based their arguments on a 30-year-old research paper suggesting that Letby murdered babies by injecting them with air through their feeding tubes. But the academic who wrote the paper was not called as a prosecution witness and has since cast doubt on the use of his work in the trial.