My work was used to convict Letby – I KNOW she’s innocent… and I’m coming out of retirement to prove it, doc says

A TOP doctor whose work was used to convict killer nurse Lucy Letby has revealed why he “knows” she’s innocent.

Letby is serving 15 whole-life sentences for the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of seven others in her care at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

PALucy Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies[/caption]

PADr Shoo Lee attends a press conference to present new evidence[/caption]

MEN MediaLetby has maintained her innocence[/caption]

During her trial, an academic paper by Dr Shoo Lee, one of Canada‘s top neonatologists, was used to support the theory that she killed some of the infants by injecting them with air.

But according to the doctor, his paper was “misrepresented”.

Despite enjoying a peaceful retirement on his farm in Canada, he decided to testify for Letby at her appeal in October 2023 – which subsequently failed.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun – after launching a renewed bid to challenge her conviction – Dr Lee has now revealed why he came out of retirement to try to clear Letby’s name.

He said: “Sometimes in life we need people to stand up for us and if we don’t do that then we’re a bit short on humanity.”

According to the neonatologist, the killer nurse’s life-sentence is based on “wrong evidence”.

He continued: “I can say she is innocent. Our conclusion was that there was no murder.

“If there’s no murderer, then I don’t know what she’s doing in prison.”

But despite the support of Dr Lee and others like him, there are still many who believe and support the court’s guilty verdicts.

Letby’s trial judge said she showed “deep malevolence bordering on sadism” after she was convicted of preying on babies small enough to fit in the palm of her hand.

Seven consultants who had worked alongside Letby — with more than 100 years experience between them — are also convinced she was deliberately harming newborns.

And the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) this week urged people to “remember the families” of the victims amid the storm of “speculation…from parties with only a partial view of the evidence”.

But Dr Lee is insistent, adding: “If the prosecution had properly interpreted my paper, she wouldn’t have been convicted in the first place.”

Letby’s failed appeal left him utterly “disturbed” knowing this meant she would spend the rest of her life behind bars, he said.

Dr Lee added: “It didn’t seem right because someone has just been 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.”

SWNSThe nurse was handed 15 whole life orders[/caption]

PAPolice bodycam footage of Letby being arrested in 2018[/caption]

GettyDr Shoo Lee, Paediatrician in Chief, said his research was misrepresented in the Letby trial[/caption]

Following two of the nurse’s failed efforts to overturn her convictions, he assembled 14 experts from around the world to analyse the medical evidence against her.

A ‘real miscarriage of justice’

Their report, which was revealed at a press conference on Tuesday, and will now be considered by the CRCC, said there were “no murders”.

For their part, families of Letby’s victims reacted with fury, with the mum of one baby boy who she tried to murder blasting Dr Lee’s intervention as a “publicity stunt”.

But, talking after the event, Dr Lee told The Sun that staff shortages and lack of medical knowledge played a key role in the babies’ deaths.

“If the medical care had been better, perhaps some of the babies may have survived,” he said.

As for Letby, he claims she had no involvement in the infants’ deaths at all.

Instead, he believes the blame is more likely to land on senior members of NHS staff if a fresh investigation is launched.

He said: “As far as Lucy is concerned, I don’t know of anything I could see in the medical records that would suggest she was part of the poor care that was provided.

“I suspect that some of the doctors will be at the receiving end of some of these [lawsuits].

“I didn’t see anything that would suggest that Lucy would be involved with that.”

According to the paediatrician, the fact that Letby was present at the death of each child is not evidence of her murdering antics.

After reviewing her files, he said it was more likely because Letby had a “specific skillset” that meant she was often caring for the “sickest babies”.

He added that Letby often picked up extra shifts when the hospital was understaffed.

He said this could account for why she was always around babies who died or were very sick.

During the press conference, Dr Lee said if the Countess of Chester Hospital had been in Canada, where he’s from, it would have been shut down.

Healthcare failures

In addition to individual faults, he believes failures in the healthcare system are largely to blame.

The doctor said this was highlighted when one baby who was born prematurely and who weighed just 800g was delivered and cared for at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s tier 2 neonatal unit.

“It should have been in a level three hospital but it was cared for there because there was no bed for the mother in the level three hospital,” he said.

Neonatal care – the treatment of new born babies – is split into four categories in the NHS depending on the severity of the child’s condition.

He added: “The question is, how much of it is the doctor’s fault because they were negligent?

“Or how much of it is because they were being asked to do something they shouldn’t have been doing?

“Or that they were not trained to do? That’s something the system has to look at, the hospital has to look at.

“It is quite unreasonable perhaps to ask doctors to look after babies for which they were never trained or have the expertise.

“Then they make mistakes and they don’t even know they’re making mistakes.”

His comments come after Tuesday’s press conference where he said: “We did not find any murders.

“There was no medical evidence to support malfeasance causing death or injury in any of the 17 cases in the trial.

“Death or injury of all the affected infants were due either to natural causes or to errors in medical care.

“There were serious problems related to medical care of patients at this hospital.”

Child died from respiratory complications

The retired doctor told the hearing that one of the babies actually died from thrombosis and not air embolism.

Thrombosis is a condition where a blood clot forms in a blood vessel – blocking blood flow.

Dr Lee also told the hearing that another baby was said to have collapsed when air was injected into them.

Prosecutors said the air embolism resulted in “patchy discolouration of the skin and death”.

The medic said today: “I would like to just repeat what I said earlier, that there is no evidence that air embolism through the veins results in patchy discolouration of the skin.

“So let’s just dismiss that, that’s not a consideration.”

AlamyLetby’s supporters stand with banners calling for justice outside London’s High Court in April[/caption]

PAThe killer’s parents John and Susan at Manchester Crown Court[/caption]

PAThe former neonatal nurse murdered seven babies and attempted to murder seven more[/caption]

She maintains her innocenceWikimedia – Facebook

The panel also heard one baby girl’s death was preventable and that there was no evidence of an air embolism.

Dr Lee suggested medics caring for her failed to respond in a timely way to a bacterial infection with antibiotics.

He also concluded the child died from respiratory complications.

Jurors heard Letby used insulin and air to inject newborns while working on the neo-natal ward and dislodged their breathing tubes.

There was ‘no proof’

But Dr Lee said in the case of one baby, there was “no proof” their tube was dislodged.

Instead, the youngster’s deterioration was caused by the use of an undersized tube, he added.

Letby’s barrister Mark McDonald described today’s evidence as a “game-changer” and vowed to bring the case back to the Court of Appeal “by the summer“.

The neo-natal nurse has so far lost two bids to appeal against her convictions at the court.

Her latest in October was over her most recent conviction for the attempted murder of a baby girl.

The killer declared “I’m innocent” as she was handed another life order in July after the retrial.

Jurors heard how she tried to kill Baby K by dislodging her breathing tube less than two hours after she was born.

Baby K was transported to Arrowe Park Hospital and sadly died three days later – although prosecutors do not believe the nurse caused her death.

Guilty of murdering seven babies

Letby became only the fourth woman ever to be handed a whole life tariff after Rose West, Joanna Dennehy and Myra Hindley when she was sentenced.

She was originally convicted of seven counts of murder in August last year following a nine-month trial and 22 days of jury deliberation.

During her trial, prosecutors argued the collapses and deaths of the children were not “naturally-occurring tragedies” and instead the gruesome work of “poisoner” Letby.

Her rampage was finally uncovered after staff grew suspicious of the “significant rise” in the number of babies dying or suffering “catastrophic” collapses.

Letby was found to be the “common denominator” among the horrifying incidents.

A public inquiry into how Letby was able to commit her crimes began in September, with closing legal submissions expected in March.

The findings of Lady Justice Thirlwall are expected to be published this autumn.

A probe into whether Letby harmed any other babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital is ongoing.

Letby has been interviewed at HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey, under caution in relation to the ongoing investigation.

A spokesperson for the CCRC 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.”

The CCRC said it is “not possible” to give a timeframe over how long the probe will take.

ReutersThe nurse appeared at the Court of Appeal last year[/caption]

GettySome insist Letby has been made a scapegoat for hospital failings[/caption]

Letby wrote chilling notesPA Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]