A panel of international medical experts claimed today that bad medical care and natural causes led to the deaths of babies allegedly harmed by Lucy Letby.
The group, consisting of 14 neonatologists and paediatric specialists, presented their ‘impartial evidence-based report’ in London. Their conclusion was clear: “We did not find any murders” attributed to Letby.
Letby, who is 35 years old, has been sentenced to 15 whole-life orders after being found guilty by Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, including two attempts on one particular victim, during the period between June 2015 and June 2016.
Panel chairman Dr Shoo Lee told a press conference that his team had detected a series of medical issues at the Countess of Chester Hospital during the relevant period.
He claimed these included poor skills in resuscitation and inserting breathing tubes, a lack of understanding of some basic procedures, and misdiagnoses.
Dr Lee also cited evidence of unsafe delays in the treatment of babies, inadequate numbers of appropriately trained staff, work overload, lack of teamwork and caring for ill babies ‘probably beyond their expected ability of designated level of care’.
MP Sir David Davis said Dr Lee had ‘come here today, I suspect at his own expense, to put right what I think, anyway, is one of the major injustices of modern times’.
Letby is said to be following developments closely from her prison cell at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, and is ‘very much engaged with everything that is going on’.
She was convicted of attacking infants in her care at the Countess of Chester neonatal unit by various means, including injecting air via feeding tubes, injecting air into the bloodstream, assault, force-feeding with milk and poisoning with insulin.
(From left) Professor Neena Modi, Lucy Letby’s barrister Mark McDonald, Sir David Davis MP and retired medic Dr Shoo Lee at a press conference at 1 Great George Street in London today
Lucy Letby is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted at Manchester Crown Court
The team of 14 neonatologists and paediatric specialists present the report in London today
A police-issued photo of the front of a diary, along with a Post-it note found inside the diary, recovered from a chest of drawers at the home of Lucy Letby in Chester, which included the lines: ‘I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough’ and ‘I am evil. I did this’
But today, some 14 of the ‘problems in medical care’ related to the 17 cases were summarised in a report released after the press conference as follows:
- Medical histories were incomplete
- Failure to consider the obstetric history
- Disregard for surveillance warnings about infectious bacterial colonisation
- Misdiagnosis of diseases
- Caring for patients that were beyond their designated level of care
- Unsafe delays in diagnosis and treatment of acutely ill patients
- Poor skills at resuscitation and intubation
- Poor supervision of junior doctors in procedures like intubation
- Poor skills in basic medical procedures like insertion of chest tubes
- Lack of understanding about respiratory physiology and basics of mechanical ventilation
- Poor management of common neonatal conditions like hypoglycemia
- Lack of knowledge about commonly used equipment in the NICU, e.g. Neopuff/capnograph
- Failure to protect at-risk patients (e.g. haemophiliacs) from trauma during intubation
- Lack of teamwork and trust between the health professions
The report added that statements given by witnesses ‘point to serious resource and infrastructure deficiencies that impact on general patient care’ at the hospital.
It said specific concerns expressed in witness statements included:
- Inadequate numbers of appropriately trained personnel
- Lack of training for assigned nursing roles
- Inadequate staffing
- Work overload
- Poor plumbing and drainage, resulting in need for intensive cleaning; this was a potential factor in Stenotrophomonas maltophilia colonization and infection
- Poor environmental temperature control in facility
- Difficulty in finding a doctor when need arose
- Congestion at medication cabinet and preparation trolley
- Lack of appropriate facilities for sterile preparation, e.g. IV drugs prepared in corridor
- Some high risk infants who should have been born and cared for at higher level institutions were born and cared for in Countess of Chester Hospital because of a shortage of beds at higher level facilities where they should have been admitted
- There were delays in transfer of sick infants to higher level facilities when the need arose.
And the report made the following four conclusions:
- There was no medical evidence to support malfeasance causing death or injury in any of the 17 cases in the trial
- Death or injury of affected infants were due to natural causes or errors in medical care
- There were problems related to the medical care of patients at the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit
- There were problems related to teamwork and inter-disciplinary collaboration at the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit
Dr Lee claimed the Countess of Chester would have been shut down if it was in his homeland of Canada.
He said: ‘Death or injury of all the affected infants were due either to natural causes or to errors in medical care.
‘There were serious problems related to medical care of patients at this hospital. In summary, ladies and gentlemen, we did not find any murders.
Retired medic Dr Shoo Lee during a press conference at 1 Great George Street in London this morning to announce ‘new medical evidence’ regarding the convictions of Lucy Letby
The corridor within the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit, in a photograph issued by police after it was shown at Manchester Crown Court during the trial of Lucy Letby
Bodyworn camera footage issued by Cheshire Constabulary of Lucy Letby’s arrest in 2018
In all cases, death or injury were due to natural causes or just bad medical care.
‘In our opinion, the medical opinion, the medical evidence doesn’t support murder in any of these babies – just natural causes and bad medical care.’
‘I hope our findings bring comfort and closure to the families of the affected infants and our hearts and sympathies go out to them.’
The prosecution at Letby’s trial said she used various means to attack infants including injecting air into their bloodstreams which caused an air embolism, a blockage to the blood supply.
Dr Lee co-authored a 1989 academic paper on air embolism in babies which featured prominently at Letby’s 10-month trial and was used by the prosecution to highlight a variety of skin discolorations observed in babies.
The defendant worked as a nurse on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital
Letby’s barrister Mark McDonald during a press conference in Central London this morning
A handwritten note which was shown in court at Letby’s trial after being found at her home
But Dr Lee told the press conference that he had recently updated his paper and had found no cases of skin discoloration linked to air embolism by the venous system, and added: ‘So let’s do away with that theory.’
The panel’s full report will go later this month to Letby’s barrister Mark McDonald who said: ‘There is overwhelming evidence that the convictions are unsafe.
‘And if Dr Shoo Lee and the panel are correct, no crime was committed.
‘And if no crime was committed, that means a 35-year-old woman is currently sitting in prison for the rest of her life for a crime that just never happened.’
Letby’s case will be reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, after her lawyers made an application to the body yesterday.
Mr McDonald said: ‘I have been working with the CCRC for over 20 years and some cases I have had in the CCRC for over seven years waiting for them to make a decision.
Police investigate at Lucy Letby’s home in Chester in June 2019, with a tent erected outside
A handwritten note which was shown in court at Letby’s trial after being found at her home
‘But what I do know is the CCRC are taking this very seriously. They have already got a team in place, they are ready to go. I hope they are going to take this very seriously and deal with it very quickly, and we will be back in the Court of Appeal very soon.’
He denied he was merely submitting a ‘rehash’ of the original defence case.
Mr McDonald said: ‘The defence did not call an expert. So as a result all you were left with was the evidence of prosecution experts in relation to neonatology, paediatrics and pathology.
‘So yes, this is fresh evidence, this is new evidence. It’s compelling evidence because of the nature of the people who are giving that evidence and it wasn’t heard by the jury.
‘The reason why Lucy Letby was convicted was because of the medical evidence that was presented to the jury. That today has been demolished.’
Letby, from Hereford, lost two bids last year to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeal.
A photo taken in July 2018 of Lucy Letby’s bedroom in Chester, which was shown in court
An artist’s drawing of Lucy Letby giving evidence at Manchester Crown Court in June 2024
These were in May for seven murders and seven attempted murders, and in October for the attempted murder of a baby girl which she was convicted of by a different jury at a retrial.
A public inquiry into how the nurse committed her crimes is also under way, and detectives from Cheshire Constabulary are continuing their review of the care of some 4,000 babies admitted to hospital while Letby worked as a neonatal nurse.
A spokesperson at the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust told MailOnline today: ‘Due to the Thirlwall Inquiry and the ongoing police investigations, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.’
