Lucy Letby experts launch new evidence challenge
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Lucy Letby wearing a blue hoodie leaves her home in handcuffs with a police officer following her. She looks into the camera and wears her blonde/brown hair loose over her shoulders.
Lucy Letby's lawyers have asked for her case to be reviewed as a potential miscarriage of justice.
A panel of international medical experts has presented what they say is "significant new evidence" that casts doubt on the convictions of serial killer Lucy Letby.
Letby, now 35, is serving 15 life sentences after being convicted of killing seven children and attempting to kill seven others - including one she attacked twice.
All the abuses occurred between June 2015 and June 2016, while the nurse was working in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
The panel, which presented its findings at a press conference in central London, attributed some deaths to natural causes and others to substandard care. Opening the press conference, Sir David Davis MP, who assisted Letby's legal team, described his convictions as "one of the greatest injustices of modern times".
The panel's chairman, Dr Shoo Lee, a retired doctor and co-author of a 1989 academic paper on air embolism in children, said 14 experts had produced an "impartial, evidence-based report".
He added that the panel's thoughts were with the families of the children who died as they presented their findings.
"We understand their stress and anxiety and our work is not intended to cause further distress," he said.
"Rather, it aims to bring comfort and reassurance that they know the truth of what really happened."
Dr Lee also criticised the care provided at the Countess of Chester Hospital. He said: "We have not seen any murder. In all cases, the deaths or injuries were due to natural causes or simply poor medical care."
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) previously said Letby's lawyers had asked the commission to investigate her case as a possible miscarriage of justice, the organisation said.
The CCRC confirmed it had "received a preliminary application in relation to Ms Letby's case and work has commenced to assess the application."
A spokesperson for the CCRC said: "We understand that there has been a lot of speculation and commentary surrounding the Lucy Letby case, many from parties with only a partial view of the evidence.
"We would like to remind everyone of the families affected by the events at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016."
The spokesperson said it was not the CCRC's job to "determine innocence or guilt in a case" and that this was a "matter for the courts". The panel said it would now consider the request and determine whether there was new evidence that presented a reasonable chance of overturning the conviction.
PA Media Dr Shoo Lee, who has messy black hair and rectangular glasses, wears a navy suit over a white shirt, speaking into a microphone. PA Media
Retired doctor Dr Shoo Lee at a news conference to announce "new medical evidence" regarding the safety of Lucy Letby's sentences
Speaking at the conference, Dr Lee described the panel as the "dream team" in neonatology and said "you won't find a more qualified panel in the world."
During Letby's trial, the prosecution referred to a 1989 report by Dr Lee to argue that one of the methods Letby used was to introduce air into the baby's body intravenously or via nasogastric tube.
Dr Lee said one of the issues the panel noted was that some children's skin discoloration had been wrongly attributed to air embolism from the chase.
Last year, Letby lost two appeals against his conviction at the Court of Appeal - in May for seven murders and seven attempted murders, and in October for the attempted murder of a young woman for which he was convicted by another jury. In the first of these appeals, his defense argued that new evidence provided by Dr. Lee made the convictions implausible. However, these arguments were rejected after three senior judges concluded that there was no expert evidence from the prosecution that diagnosed an air embolism based solely on the skin stain.
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