THE 10 BABY DEATHS THAT CAST DOUBT ON LUCY LETBY’S GUILT
Lucy Letby was charged with fewer than half of the baby deaths that occurred at the Countess of Chester Hospital during an unexpected mortality spike, new figures show.
Data released by the Thirlwall Inquiry, which is examining how the harm could have been prevented, revealed there were 18 deaths linked to the hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
But Letby was only charged in connection with eight of the deaths.
During her trial, the jury was shown a chart that placed the neonatal nurse at each one of the babies’ deaths or collapses.
But the chart did not include the extra 10 deaths that occurred during that period, which were far more than the usual “one to three” expected annually on the neonatal unit.
It is the first time the figures have been released and show that the hospital death rate was abnormally high, even without the Letby deaths.
Sir David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, said: “The chart released by the Thirlwall Inquiry shows that the original evidence shown to the jury was, at the very least, misleading.
“Letby ended up being charged with fewer than half of the baby deaths at the Countess of Chester, the rest of which are not explained adequately by the prosecution’s case.”
The true figure has only come to light now because some dying babies were transferred to other hospitals so their deaths were not included in official data for the Countess of Chester even though they deteriorated in the neonatal unit.
Critics of Letby’s conviction say that there were other explanations for a high death rate at the neonatal unit in 2015 and 2016 including a lack of staff, sub-optimal care and an increase in admissions of more premature and sicker babies.
The 10 babies which Letby was not accused of killing, died from various causes including congenital issues present at birth, prematurity, sepsis, pneumonia and a lack of oxygen, the new documents show.
A review by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) at the time warned that there should have been more doctors available, given the vulnerable nature of premature babies. Staff had contacted the management team to warn the unit was “at breaking point”.
What Telegraph readers have said
New documents released by the Thirlwall Inquiry also show how the Countess of Chester refused to take part in research to improve outcomes for premature babies.
Prof Neena Modi, the former president of the RCPCH, who leads the UK National Neonatal Research Database (NNRD) said the programme called ‘Opti-Prem’ sought to find out if babies were better off in intensive care units.
“The purpose of the research was to assess, for babies born at 27 to 31 weeks gestation and admitted to a neonatal unit in England, whether care in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit versus care in a Local Neonatal Unit affected survival and key morbidities,” Prof Modi said in a statement to the inquiry.
“The Countess of Chester was the only hospital to decline participation.”
On Tuesday, Letby’s defence team is due to announce “significant new medical evidence” from 14 of the world’s leading neonatal experts, regarding the safety of the convictions.
A team of medical experts has already been reviewing the baby deaths, and has determined that at least two infants died from natural causes.
Nurses have already raised concerns
A press conference in London will also hear from Dr Shoo Lee, a Canadian neonatologist whose work was cited by the prosecution in the original trial. Dr Lee is expected to tell the press conference that his work was misused by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
The prosecution told the jury that many of the babies had a pink flitting rash that was evidence of murder by air embolism, but Dr Lee will say that infants injected through a vein do not show such skin discolouration.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has already stood up a team and has begun “preliminary reading and familiarisation” with the case, even though Letby’s lawyers have not yet made a submission.
Commenting on the new data a CPS spokesman said: “Two juries and three appeal court judges have reviewed a multitude of different strands of evidence against Lucy Letby. She has been convicted on 15 separate counts following two separate jury trials.
“In May 2024, the Court of Appeal dismissed Letby’s leave to appeal on all grounds – rejecting her argument that expert prosecution evidence was flawed.”
2025-02-04T06:12:44Z
