Doctor whose work was used to convict Lucy Letby reveals why he now believes she's innocent

A doctor whose work was used to convict Lucy Letby has claimed he "knows" the serial killer nurse is innocent. Letby, 35, was sentenced in August 2023 to 15 whole life prison sentences for the murders of seven infants and the attempted murders of seven others between June 2015 and June 2016. She was accused of mounting "a cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder involving the smallest and most vulnerable of children.".

Last week, nearly two years after her sentencing, a panel of experts concluded the medical evidence used to convict her "doesn't support murder". Top medic Dr Shoo Lee, the panel's chairman, has insisted that work he completed which was used in the trial was "misrepresented". Dr Lee, a top Canadian neonatologist, told The Sun he would "stand up" for Letby after saying one of his papers was used incorrectly by prosecutors. During her first trial, the prosecution referred to a paper Dr Lee penned in 1989 in which he looked at cases of air embolus, an injury caused when air is injected into the arteries or veins.

The process, the doctor found at the time, causes skin discoloration, something staff at the Countess of Chester Hospital where Letby worked said they noticed on the nurse's baby patients. But Dr Lee said the injuries he observed in his paper were accidental, and that discolouration would not take place when air was injected into a baby's veins, as Letby was alleged to have done. Dr Lee said he has come out to support Letby's appeal as she was "convicted using wrong evidence". He added: "Perhaps the clever thing to do would be to do nothing and say, that's none of my business. It's not even my country for heaven's sake. But it just didn't feel right. I thought if the evidence being used was wrong then this would be a real miscarriage of justice.".

The doctor and his panel, which was comprised of 14 other experts from the UK, US, Japan, Germany, Canada and Sweden, claimed to have looked at 17 cases cited by Letby prosecutors and compiled an "impartial evidence-based report". The report, which they say "did not find any murders" and attributed the deaths to "natural causes or just bad medical care", would be passed to Letby's barristers. The former nurse's legal team submitted a new appeal application on her behalf on Tuesday, with a spokesperson for the commission saying commentary surrounding the Letby case came from parties with a "partial view of the evidence". They said: "We are aware that there has been a great deal of speculation and commentary surrounding Lucy Letby ’s case, much of it from parties with only a partial view of the evidence.

"We ask that everyone remembers the families affected by events at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016. We have received a preliminary application in relation to Ms Letby’s case, and work has begun to assess the application. We anticipate further submissions being made to us. “It is not for the CCRC to determine innocence or guilt in a case, that’s a matter for the courts. It is for the CCRC to find, investigate and if appropriate, refer potential miscarriages of justice to the appellate courts when new evidence or new argument means there is a real possibility that a conviction will not be upheld, or a sentence reduced.

"At this stage it is not possible to determine how long it will take to review this application. A significant volume of complicated evidence was presented to the court in Ms Letby’s trials. The CCRC is independent. We do not work for the government, courts, police, the prosecution or for anyone applying for a review of their case. This helps us investigate alleged miscarriages of justice impartially.".