Lucy Letby, the former nurse convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others at the Countess of Chester Hospital, has been granted an appeal. The decision follows a press conference on 4 February 2025, where a panel of international experts, led by Canadian neonatologist Dr Shoo Lee, disputed the prosecution's case. Dr Lee stated that the panel found no evidence of murder, attributing the deaths and injuries to natural causes or poor medical care.
Dr Lee's involvement stems from his 1980s research paper, which the prosecution used to argue that Letby killed babies by injecting air into their veins. Lee described this use as a "categorical error" and expressed concern over a potential miscarriage of justice. Despite the Court of Appeal previously dismissing his evidence as irrelevant, Lee assembled a panel of leading specialists from Canada, the US, Japan, and Europe, including UK-based neonatologist Dr Neena Modi and perinatal pathologist Dr Marta Cohen.
The panel highlighted significant problems in the neonatal unit, describing it as inadequately staffed and poorly equipped. Dr Lee noted that if such a situation occurred in Canada, the unit would have been shut down. The unit, built in 1971, was a level two facility accepting very premature babies from 27 weeks' gestation. A series of infant deaths in 2015 and 2016 prompted an internal review and eventual police involvement in May 2017.
Letby was sentenced to 15 whole-life orders, and her previous appeal was unanimously refused. The new appeal will examine whether the convictions were safe, given the expert testimony challenging the medical evidence. The case continues to divide opinion, with supporters arguing that the original verdicts relied on flawed science.
