An panel of experts in the care of newborn babies have wildly claimed there were "no murders" in the deaths of infants that saw Lucy Letby convicted as a child serial killer. Letby, 35, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016. Her whole life tariff means that she will never be eligible, and is expected to die behind bars.

But since the verdict, an online campaign has started questioning the fairness of the trial and ultimately the safety of her conviction. The speculation around Letby's conviction has been condemned by the families of the victims, who labelled those spreading rumours online “hurtful and distasteful.”. And at the end of a 70-minute press conference today, Dr Shoo Lee - who co-authored a 1989 academic paper on air embolism in babies – which featured prominently in Letby’s 10-month trial - claimed: “In summary then, ladies and gentlemen, we did not find murders. In all cases, death or injury were due to natural causes or just bad medical care.

"Lucy was charged with seven murders and seven attempted murders. In our opinion, the medical opinion, the medical evidence doesn’t support murder in any of these cases, just natural causes and bad medical care.”. Analysis conducted by a “blue riband committee” of 14 neonatalogists was revealed at the press conference in central London this morning. Tory former minister Sir David Davis, who last week used questions in the House of Commons to raise concerns on behalf of Letby’s legal team, chaired Tuesday’s panel. The former Brexit secretary and MP for Goole and Pocklington, wants a retrial for Letby and said he believes it will clear her of any wrongdoing.

Letby was convicted for attacking and killing infants by various means while a nurse on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital. One such method was injecting air into the bloodstream, which caused an air embolism that blocked the blood supply and led to sudden and unexpected collapses. And just moments before the conference started, it was announced lawyers for the convicted child serial killer applied yesterday to the Criminal Cases Review Commission to investigate her case as a potential miscarriage of justice, the organisation said.

A Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) spokesperson 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.”.

Letby lost two bids last year to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeal – 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. At the first of those appeals, a bid to admit fresh evidence from Dr Lee was also rejected as three senior judges concluded there had been no prosecution expert evidence diagnosing air embolus solely on the basis of skin discolouration. Dr Lee has said he has recently updated his academic paper and found no cases of skin discolouration linked to air embolism by the venous system.