Lucy Letby maintains her innocence, her lawyer said on Wednesday as he condemned “leaking by the police” after it was confirmed the neonatal nurse had been interviewed over more suspicious deaths of babies.
Letby, who is serving a whole-life sentence for killing and maiming newborns in her care, was questioned under caution about other unexpected deaths and collapses of babies at the Countess of Chester hospital and, for the first time, at Liverpool Women’s hospital where she trained as a student, Cheshire police said.
Mark McDonald, the lawyer representing Letby, told the PA Media news agency: “The police have been briefing about further inquiries for over a year.
“Any allegations need to be taken seriously so we are only surprised by the timing of this new leak from the police, given that there is now substantial information that undermines Lucy Letby’s convictions.
“Lucy voluntarily attended an interview; she was not arrested. Lucy continues to maintain her innocence and, as she has said throughout, she has never and would never harm any child.
“The continuing leaking and briefing of information in this case by the police since the investigation began in 2017 is deeply concerning and needs to stop. Everybody is entitled to a fair hearing and right now the police are arguably preventing this from taking place.”
On Tuesday, Cheshire police said in a statement: “We can confirm that, following agreement, Lucy Letby has recently been interviewed in prison under caution in relation to the ongoing investigation into baby deaths and non-fatal collapses at the Countess of Chester hospital and the Liverpool Women’s hospital. Further updates will follow.”
Detectives are reviewing the care of about 4,000 babies admitted to hospital while Letby was working as a neonatal nurse. The period covers her time at the Countess of Chester from January 2012 to the end of June 2016, and includes two work placements at Liverpool Women’s hospital in 2012 and 2015.
Cheshire police previously emphasised that only those cases highlighted as medically concerning would be investigated further.
Letby, 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.
She is serving her sentence in HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey, which caters for category A female prisoners. The Thirlwall inquiry, looking into the Letby case, is continuing in Liverpool.
Dr Stephen Brearey, who was senior paediatrician on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester, told the public inquiry in November that he believed Letby was “likely” to have murdered or attacked more babies before she killed her first known victim, a premature twin boy known as Baby A, in June 2015.
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Brearey told the hearing: “On reflection I think it’s likely that Letby didn’t start becoming a killer in June 2015, or didn’t start harming babies in June 2015. I think it’s likely that her actions prior to then over a period of time changed what we perceived to be abnormal.”
Brearey said the reporting culture on the unit was good and staff were very aware of the need to report things they thought had gone wrong.
But “in retrospect” he said some of the incidents where babies’ conditions deteriorated between June 2015 and June 2016, and “probably before”, could have triggered further investigation.
The inquiry has heard that babies’ breathing tubes became dislodged on 40% of shifts that Letby worked at Liverpool Women’s hospital between October and December 2012, and January and February 2015.
But questions have also been raised about whether Letby’s convictions are safe. A Guardian investigation spoke to dozens of experts raising concerns about conditions on the ward where Letby worked at the Countess of Chester and the use of statistics in her trial.
Source: theguardian.com
