Lawyers for child serial killer Lucy Letby will make a fresh bid to challenge her convictions on the grounds that the lead prosecution medical expert at her trial was “not reliable”.
Her barrister, Mark McDonald, said he would immediately seek permission from the Court of Appeal to take the “exceptional, but necessary, decision” to apply to reopen her case.
Speaking at a press conference at London’s Royal Society of Medicine, Mr McDonald said that “remarkably” Dr Dewi Evans had changed his mind over the mechanism of death involving three of Letby’s murder victims.
He said: “The defence will argue that Dr Evans is not a reliable expert, and all the convictions are not safe.”
Letby, 34, 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 has lost two bids this year to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeal – in May for seven murders and seven attempted murders and in October for the attempted murder of a baby girl which she was convicted of by a different jury at a retrial.
The Thirlwall Inquiry into how Letby was able to commit her crimes has heard evidence at Liverpool Town Hall since September and will resume in January, with findings expected to be published in autumn 2025.
In his statement to reporters, Mr McDonald said: “The primary grounds of appeal at the previous hearings related to the admissibility before the jury of the evidence of the lead prosecution expert Dr Dewi Evans.
“The defence argued twice at trial that Dr Evans’ evidence should be disregarded. This was refused by the trial judge.
“It was then later argued in the Court of Appeal and was refused in the court of appeal.
“Remarkably, Dr Evans has now changed his mind on the cause of death of three of the babies: Baby C, Baby I and Baby P.”
Mr McDonald continued: “Dr Evans had said to the jury that Lucy Letby had injected air down a nasal gastric tube and this had led to the death of the three babies.
“This was repeated to the Court of Appeal, who may have been misled when they ruled on the application for leave against the convictions.
“Dr Evans has also said that he has revised his opinion in relation to Baby C and has written a new report, a new report that he has given to the police, months ago now.
“Despite numerous requests, the prosecution has yet to give this report to the defence.
“The defence will argue that Dr Evans is not a reliable expert, and given that he was the lead expert for the prosecution, we say that all the convictions are not safe.”
Dr Evans has been contacted for comment.
Mr McDonald added he also has reports from two neonatologists that he claims count as fresh evidence in the cases of Baby C and Baby O, with no evidence of deliberate harm.
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: “Two juries and three appeal court judges have reviewed a multitude of different strands of evidence against Lucy Letby.
“She has been convicted on 15 separate counts following two separate jury trials.
“In May, the Court of Appeal dismissed Letby’s leave to appeal on all grounds – rejecting her argument that expert prosecution evidence was flawed.”
A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of the surviving and dead children involved in the case.
