A doctor who was the primary medical expert for Lucy Letby's defence team has said it was 'appalling' that he was never called to give evidence in her trial. Dr Mike Hall told the Mail's Trial podcast that the jury was wrong to convict the former neonatal nurse and that the justice system had been 'unfair' to her.
Letby, 35, is serving 15 whole-life orders after being found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others. Dr Hall, a retired paediatrician who sat through almost every day of the 10-month trial, said he did not believe the jury heard enough evidence to be 'sure' of her guilt. 'I thought the medical evidence was very weak,' he said, adding that 'quite a few' of the verdicts were 'unsafe'.
Dr Hall acknowledged that not calling him was not necessarily wrong from a legal standpoint, but said: 'In terms of natural justice, it seems appalling that Lucy Letby did not have the opportunity of having her case presented.' He noted that the jury was instructed to disregard submissions made by her barrister, Ben Myers KC, as they were not evidence, meaning no alternative medical opinion was heard from the witness box.
The defence's decision not to call medical experts has been criticised since the trial. Letby gave evidence herself for 14 days, but her only other witness was a hospital plumber. Dr Hall would not say he believed Letby was innocent, but insisted the prosecution had not proved her guilt 'to the threshold of being sure'.
