Two experts leave Lucy Letby’s defence team in Britain
In the United Kingdom, two experts have left the defence team of former neonatal unit nurse Lucy Letby, who is challenging her convictions for the murder of seven babies and attempted murder of another seven at the Countess of Chester hospital in north-west England. As The Guardian World reports, the specialists said they could not support some of the defence arguments because of doubts about their scientific credibility.
Doubts about the defence arguments
British chemical engineering expert Helen Shannon and New Zealand professor of bioengineering Geoff Chase prepared a 100-page report last year. In it, they questioned the convictions concerning the alleged insulin poisoning of two babies, known in court documents as Baby 6 and Baby 12.
Shannon and Chase said they continue to believe it is highly unlikely that anyone poisoned these children. At the same time, they declined to support other evidence that Letby’s defence team uses in the insulin cases. In the experts’ view, some arguments are inconsistent with the available evidence, scientific data and established physiology, while some problems are fundamental and have no solution.
The defence position and case review
The experts also said that the strategy of the defence team, led by barrister Mark McDonald, creates serious, unnecessary and unacceptable risks to Letby’s long-term interests and could have consequences for the families of the children who died and those who were harmed. They noted that continued association with arguments they consider demonstrably inaccurate creates an ethical problem under the professional engineering codes of the United Kingdom and New Zealand and could lead to professional sanctions.
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McDonald said that the defence has opinions from a number of international specialists in insulin, endocrinology and laboratory medicine which, he said, undermine the scientific evidence used during the trial. He stressed that the case does not depend on the position of one expert.
The UK Criminal Cases Review Commission is considering the evidence dossier submitted last year and declined to comment on the situation. Letby is serving 15 whole-life prison terms without the possibility of release after being convicted in two trials at Manchester Crown Court.
A criminal investigation is also continuing into possible corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter at the Countess of Chester hospital.
