Sark resident backs MP Davis in calling for Lucy Letby retrial

Medico-legal expert Dr Roger Norwich, who is registered with the General Medical Council, is one of a number of doctors and other professionals attending parliament today in support of Sir David Davis, who has been granted approval for a debate on the nurse’s conviction for the killing of babies.

Neonatal nurse Letby was convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murder of seven more at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.

Dr Norwich has previously spoken of his view that the evidence against Letby was limited.

‘It became apparent to me and also to quite a lot of other doctors that there was something very odd about the diagnoses that were being given in relation to the babies that had died,’ he said.

‘Gradually, after the trial had finished and reporting restrictions ended, it became a little easier for us all to start talking about this.

‘I had been involved with a number of consultants in the UK and overseas looking at the science behind these allegations and it became apparent earlier in the year, when Sir David Davis made a statement in the House of Commons concerning the New Yorker article, which had been blocked by the UK government because when that article came out, the judicial process was still going on and nobody was allowed to read it.

‘Sir David spoke out publicly and coalesced a large number of doctors to get in touch with him to start discussing the case, the conviction and what was believed to be wrong.’

Dr Norwich believes that one of the bigger issues was that a lot of doctors and nurses with concerns were still employed by the NHS and were nervous to talk about the case.

‘A number of nurses at Chester who were told by managers that their careers would not end well if they began stating what they really felt about Lucy Letby,’ he said.

‘Most of the babies allegedly had air embolisms and the main experts used an article written in 1989 by Shoo Lee to back up their thoughts. Dr Lee attended the hearing via video, and denied that any of the evidence in his article had anything to do with babies and cannot be relied on.’

The only route available for Letby to appeal at the moment would be through the Criminal Case Review Committee, which assisted convicted rapist Andrew Malkinson to secure his innocence after serving 16 years in prison following his wrongful conviction.

Sir David has spoken up to challenge the evidence presented during the Letby trial and sought for the debate of the case early this year to put pressure on the CCRC to move faster.

His application for the debate was approved shortly before Christmas, after Sir David heard that Letby’s lawyers would be seeking a fresh appeal.

Sir David hoped that a retrial with ‘proper’ experts will draw a different conclusion and change the public’s perception of Letby.

The Letby trial was highly publicised and a Guernsey paediatrician was called to be an expert witness.

Sir David will be speaking on the matter in the House of Commons this afternoon.