CPS admits it made errors with Lucy Letby proof
Evidence used in the trial of Lucy Letby showing which staff came in and out of a baby unit was incorrect, admits the Crown Prosecution Service.
Last year ‘killer nurse’ Lucy Letby was found guilty of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
In July, a jury at a retrial convicted Letby of attempting to murder a seventh child – known as Baby K.
But prosecutor Nick Johnson told the court during her retrial that data showing which nurses and doctors swiped in to and out of the intensive care ward had been ‘mislabelled’.
Although the discrepancy was discovered and corrected in time for the retrial, Conservative MP Sir David Davis has written to chief crown prosecutor of Mersey-Cheshire CPS Sarah Hammond demanding clarification.
Lucy Letby (pictured) has been found guilty of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of seven others at the Countess of Chester Hospital
Face of evil: A beaming Letby is pictured graduating from university in September 2011, left, and as a young schoolgirl, right
Sir David said: ‘The door swipe data is clearly vital to knowing which nurse was where at one point in time, and this in turn was vital to the prosecution’s case in the first trial.
‘It is therefore essential that the CPS makes it plain whether those errors occurred throughout any of the evidence of the first trial.’
In both trials, door swipe data was used to show that Letby was the ‘common denominator’ and the only nurse present in the unit when babies including Baby A, Baby D and Baby O rapidly deteriorated.
Prosecutors in the initial trial last August used the data to show that Letby was the only nurse on the ward when Baby K’s breathing tube was dislodged at 3.47am.
But in the retrial the door swipe data was amended to show that the baby’s designated nurse had returned to the intensive care unit and that Letby was, in fact, not alone.
A spokesman for the Mersey-Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service said: ‘The CPS can confirm that accurate door swipe data was presented in the retrial.’
Letby received a whole life sentence and will die in prison as a result of her crimes.
The validity of Letby’s initial trial has come under scrutiny in recent months as several scientists second-guessed the medical evidence heard by the jury.
She inflicted unimaginable harm on her victims – all while appearing as a smiling, harmless nurse. This image was taken in 2012 three years before Letby’s killing spree began
Supporters of ex-nurse Lucy Letby demonstrate outside the High Court in London during her appeal hearing in April
The former Brexit secretary is currently analysing the evidence used to convict the neonatal nurse of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more
This graphic shows how Lucy Letby’s horrific killing spree progressed throughout 2015 and 2016
Sir Davis is currently analysing the evidence used to convict the neonatal nurse.
The former Brexit secretary launched his investigation after doubts were raised about Letby’s guilt – with some members of the Royal Statistical Society expressing concerns over the use of statistics to secure a conviction on the basis of probabilities.
Mr Davis, a civil liberties campaigner, is understood to be concerned about the justice system’s institutional reluctance to admit to its own failings, leading innocent people to languish in prison.
Last week he told The Daily T Podcast that he would visit Letby in prison if he was ‘at least three-quarters persuaded that she’s innocent’.
He said: ‘I may not be allowed to, her lawyer may say no; she may say no. That’s got to be with her permission.
‘For me to do anything about this, I’ve got to be at least three-quarters persuaded that she’s innocent.
‘I’ll read millions of words of evidence over August and come to a conclusion in probably September or maybe October.’
