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Former cabinet minister Sir David Davis has said he believes it is “highly probable” serial killer nurse Lucy Letby is innocent.
The NHS neonatal nurse is currently serving 15 whole life sentences for seven murders and seven attempted murders of babies while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain on Monday (2 September), the former Brexit secretary explained why he believes there is “more than reasonable doubt” over Letby’s conviction.
Sir David told presenters Susanna Reid and Ed Balls that several senior doctors have been in touch with him and sent alternative diagnoses for every death Letby has been found guilty of.
He also said that other deaths that had occurred in the unit when Letby was not on shift were not called into question.
Sir David said: “Firstly, you’re not taking on board all the extra deaths, you’ve picked out half that happened to fit the Lucy Letby shift schedule.
“About half the deaths were when she was not on duty.
“Point two is the expert evidence on how they died, where these children were murdered. Six out of seven of the children they picked had a post mortem and the post mortem had said natural causes in essence.
“I’ve had other neonatal doctors and specialists get in touch, one of them sent me an alternative diagnosis for every single death.”
It is not the first time Sir David has questioned Letby’s guilt, previously saying he would try to visit the 34-year-old in HMP Bronzefield if he was “at least three-quarters persuaded that she’s innocent”.
Speaking of his plans, he has previously said: “I may not be allowed to, her lawyer may say no; she may say no. That’s got to be with her permission.
“For me to do anything about this, I’ve got to be at least three-quarters persuaded that she’s innocent. I’ll read millions of words of evidence over August and come to a conclusion in probably September or maybe October.
“But if I do come to the conclusion that she’s innocent, I’ll be raising it in parliament and seeking to get a criminal case review commission referral.
“If it doesn’t persuade me, then I won’t waste the prison governor’s time. If I conclude that Letby is guilty, then I’m going to drop this.”
A growing number of experts have cast doubts or raised concerns about her trials, claiming that the evidence presented may have been misinterpreted.
This included the rota, which formed a key part of the case and showed Letby to be on duty for every suspicious death or collapse between June 2015 and June 2016.
Peter Green, a former president of the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), previously said: “The chart appears to be very convincing, but there are a number of issues with it.
“A big thing is that it only describes 25 of the bad events which happened in this period.
“It doesn’t include any of the events that happened when Lucy was not on duty.”
In a letter written to the Letby Inquiry, the RSS urged the chair to “cover the appropriate use of statistical evidence in the cases of medical murder” following a 2022 report looking into issues surrounding their use.
Letby has maintained her innocence since first being arrested in 2018, and told the courtroom “I’m innocent” as she was being led from the docks after a second trial saw her convicted of attempting to murder a baby girl.
Following one of the longest legal cases in British history, she was convicted last summer and handed 14 whole-life orders for her “murderous campaign”. Jurors heard that she had injected vulnerable babies with insulin and oxygen while they were under her care, and had obsessively researched their families on social media.
In May, Letby lost her Court of Appeal bid to challenge her convictions from last year.
