On 4 February 2025, Lucy Letby’s barrister, Mark McDonald, convened a press conference at which a Canadian medical professor, Dr Shoo Lee, announced that an international panel of experts disputed the prosecution case that led to Letby’s convictions for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others at the Countess of Chester hospital. The panel found no evidence of murder, attributing deaths and injuries to natural causes or poor medical care.
Dr Lee, a leading neonatologist, became involved after learning that a 1980s research paper he authored had been used by the prosecution to support the allegation that Letby injected air into babies’ veins. He described the use of his paper as ‘incorrect’ and a ‘categorical error’, and expressed concern that Letby may have been wrongly convicted. His evidence was dismissed as ‘irrelevant’ by the Court of Appeal when it refused Letby’s application to appeal.
The panel assembled by Lee included eminent specialists from Canada, the US, Japan and Europe, among them UK-based consultants Dr Neena Modi and Dr Marta Cohen. Lee flew from Canada at his own expense to present their findings, which stated there was ‘no medical evidence to support malfeasance’. The panel identified significant problems with the care provided at the neonatal unit, which they said had inadequate numbers of appropriately trained staff.
The neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester was a level-two facility, accepting very premature babies from 27 weeks’ gestation. A series of deaths in 2015–2016 led to its downgrading to level one. Dr Lee stated that if such a situation had occurred in Canada, the unit ‘would have been shut down’. Letby was sentenced to 15 whole-life orders, and her convictions have been the subject of growing expert scrutiny.
