Medic who Lucy Letby’s defence crew didn’t name is ‘troubled’
An expert witness who Lucy Letby‘s defence team failed to call has said he is ‘troubled’ by not being able to evidence and believes his participation could have led to a different outcome.
Neonatologist Dr Michael Hall said he has wrestled ‘for some time’ with the nurse’s case and ‘did not consider that the jury had heard the whole truth’.
Although Dr Hall was hired by Letby’s defence lawyers as an expert witness, he was not called to testify at Manchester Crown Court.
Across two trials, Letby, 34, was convicted of murdering seven babies and the attempted murders of seven others while she worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
She was given whole life sentences for her crimes, meaning she will never be released from prison, but some have raised questions around the evidence put forward to the initial jury.
Neonatologist Dr Michael Hall said he has wrestled ‘for some time’ with Lucy Lety’s case and ‘did not consider that the jury had heard the whole truth’
Although Dr Hall was hired by Letby’s defence lawyers as an expert witness, he was not called to testify at Manchester Crown Court
Dr Hall said he would have challenged some of the prosecution’s assertions, telling The Times: ‘I would have given different answers to those given by the prosecution’s medical expert witnesses, and different interpretations for some of the cases.
‘That’s not to say that I know all the answers, or that I know that Lucy Letby is innocent. There were certainly some events which were difficult to explain.’
The medic said he believed expert witnesses called by the prosecution ‘overstated the degree to which some of the babies were ”completely stable” before they collapsed’.
He suggested the evidence backing the prosecution’s contention that some of the young victims were injected with air was relatively weak.
Dr Hall also insisted the majority of the evidence was ‘circumstantial’ with ‘little forensic evidence’ to support the prosecution case.
The neonatologist said he does not know why he was not called by the defence despite being one of their expert witnesses.
Solicitor Mark Solon, who runs a training firm that teaches expert witnesses how to work within the legal system, said there were several potential reasons.
One possible explanation is the defence may have felt Dr Hall would not have done well under cross-examination, perhaps because he would not have fully backed Letby’s innocence, or they may have felt they had already made their case.
A photo showing Letby during a night out that she shared on her social media
Letby, who worked at the Countess of Cheshire Hospital, giving evidence in court
Letby ranks as Britain’s most prolific baby killer in modern times after killing seven babies and attempting to kill a further seven between June 2015 and June 2016.
Cheshire Police are still investigating her for other possible crimes against babies even earlier in her nursing career.
Officers are currently sifting through the medical notes of 4,000 babies at two hospitals where Letby worked between 2012 and 2016 – the Countess of Chester and Liverpool Women’s Hospital.
In August 2023, Letby refused to come up from a holding cell to hear him impose no fewer than 14 whole life orders.
Last month, Letby was found guilty of the attempted murder of a premature girl known as Baby K after the jury failed to reach a verdict in the original trial. She was later sentenced to a 15th whole life term for the offence.
The youngster, born at 25 weeks’ gestation and weighing just 692g, was said by the prosecution to be the ‘epitome of fragility’.
About 90 minutes after her birth, Letby dislodged the breathing tube through which she was being ventilated with air and oxygen.
Letby was caught ‘virtually red-handed’ trying to murder Baby K by the lead consultant on the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neo-natal unit, Dr Ravi Jayaram, in the early hours of February 17, 2016.
Judge Mr Justice Goss KC told Letby: ‘It was another shocking act of calculated, callous cruelty’.
Body worn camera footage issued by Cheshire Constabulary showing Letby’s arrest
The neo-natal ward at the Countess of Chester Hospital where Letby worked
He said she had ‘betrayed the trust of Baby K, her parents, and all those at the hospital’.
‘You have coldly denied responsibility. You have shown no remorse. There are no mitigating factors,’ he added.
Baby K’s mother said in a victim impact statement: ‘Baby K is not here, never will be, we will never have what would give us peace, closure, or a feeling of being complete family unit.
‘However, you Lucy Letby, will never hurt another child or have the privilege and joy that children give.’
The killer’s repeated denials have helped spark a wave of conspiracy theories among people convinced of her innocence. At times during the re-trial Letby supporters were queuing to get into both Court 7 and the overspill annex in Court 16.
