LONDON — A lawyer for convicted British killer nurse Lucy Letby said Monday that he plans to ask an appeals court to re-examine her convictions after the prosecution’s leading expert changed his opinion on how three babies died.
Attorney Mark McDonald said Dr. Dewi Evans could no longer be believed after reversing his opinion that Letby had injected air down a nasal gastric tube that killed three infants.
“I have fresh evidence that casts doubt on the conviction,” McDonald said. “The defense will argue that Dr. Evans is not a reliable expert, and given that he was the lead expert for the prosecution, we say that all the convictions are not safe.”
Letby, 34, is serving multiple life sentences with no chance of release after being convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to murder seven others while working as a neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwestern England between June 2015 and June 2016.
McDonald said he will file a request this week asking the Court of Appeal to review her appeal bid. The court has twice rejected Letby’s application for appeal.
Letby, who testified at two trials that she never harmed a child, has always proclaimed her innocence.
An inquiry is currently underway to examine failures by the hospital to recognize why babies were dying in the neonatal unit and why they took so long to stop Letby.
The Crown Prosecution Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment about McDonald’s claims.
