Seven pediatric medical doctors and toxicology specialists mentioned on Thursday that jurors have been misled by prosecutors who cited unreliable insulin assessments throughout the trial of Lucy Letby, a nurse convicted of murdering seven infants at a British hospital.
The medical doctors made their assertions in a brand new report that Ms. Letby’s lawyer submitted to Britain’s Felony Circumstances Overview Fee, which is liable for investigating attainable miscarriages of justice, within the hopes of being allowed to pursue a full enchantment of her 15 life sentences.
Ms. Letby, who labored as a nurse in a neonatal unit at a hospital in northern England, was discovered responsible in 2023 of intentionally harming — and in seven instances, murdering — infants by injecting them with air, overfeeding them with milk, infusing air into their gastrointestinal tracts or poisoning them with insulin.
Within the new report, the specialists, who embrace a forensic toxicologist, a professor of forensic science and an endocrinologist who has written a number of peer-reviewed papers on medical take a look at errors, attacked the validity of the proof of insulin poisoning utilized by the prosecution at trial.
“Our inescapable conclusion is that this proof considerably undermines the validity of the assertions made in regards to the insulin and C-peptide testing introduced in Court docket,” they wrote in a abstract of the report supplied to reporters by her authorized crew.
Ms. Letby has all the time maintained her innocence. Since her two trials, critical questions have been raised about her guilt, together with in a 13,000-word New Yorker article final Might. However efforts by her legal professionals to reopen the case with a full enchantment have been repeatedly denied.
The brand new report focuses on two infants — generally known as infants F and L — whose blood sugar ranges dropped to low ranges, however who later recovered. Ms. Letby was convicted of making an attempt to homicide the 2 infants by including insulin to their meals, inflicting a situation referred to as hypoglycemia.
Assessments advised that the infants had excessive ranges of insulin however solely a negligible quantity of C-peptide, a substance detected when insulin is produced by the physique. The prosecution argued the insulin should due to this fact have been administered externally.
Within the new report, the specialists current what they describe as “convincing new proof from a number of sources” displaying critical issues with the take a look at outcomes used to reveal that Ms. Letby poisoned two of the infants with insulin.
They mentioned the take a look at, referred to as “the Roche immunoassay,” was identified to end in “falsely excessive insulin outcomes.” In addition they argued that there have been different methods for infants to obtain insulin, together with by the placenta whereas they’re of their mom’s womb.
The specialists mentioned that when proof was introduced to jurors in regards to the ranges of insulin discovered within the small infants, the prosecution referred to the mistaken knowledge.
“Research in adults and older kids have been quoted which aren’t related, and the restricted acceptable info was not referred to,” they wrote.
They mentioned the testing “didn’t meet acceptable forensic requirements” and that the outcomes of the Roche take a look at, specifically, shouldn’t have been relied on with out being confirmed by extra exact laboratory assessments.
The Royal Liverpool Hospital laboratory the place the assessments have been carried out explicitly warns in its on-line steering that they’re “not appropriate” for investigating low blood sugar created by an insulin injection. “If exogenous insulin administration is suspected as the reason for hypoglycemia, please inform the laboratory in order that the pattern could be referred externally for evaluation,” it says. However each infants recovered, so their samples have been by no means referred anyplace else.
The specialists mentioned that prosecutors and the police had not thought-about different ways in which the infants grew to become hypoglycemic apart from foul play.
“There are various medical explanations which clarify the hypoglycemia in each infants, similar to line failure, sepsis and perinatal stress-induced hyperinsulinism,” they wrote. “These various prospects weren’t thought-about.”
Questions in regards to the accusations of insulin poisoning have been raised publicly by medical doctors within the months for the reason that trial. Thursday’s 86-page report is an effort by Mark McDonald, Ms. Letby’s lawyer, to current these inquiries to the fee in a proper approach.
“The conclusions of the report on Infants F and L clearly reveal that the case should return to the Court docket of Attraction as a matter of urgency,” Mr. McDonald mentioned in a press release.
He added: “Lucy Letby is at the moment serving 15 complete life phrases in jail, when overwhelming impartial skilled proof signifies that no infants have been murdered.”
In a assertion to a public inquiry final month, legal professionals representing a number of the households of infants who died or have been harmed on the Countess of Chester Hospital mentioned: “The households don’t have any doubts about Letby’s guilt.”
Mr. McDonald additionally submitted to the Felony Circumstances Overview Fee a full 698-page examination of Ms. Letby’s case by a separate panel of specialists, led by the famend Canadian neonatologist Dr. Shoo Lee, who previewed their findings in February. That report concluded that “there was no medical proof to assist malfeasance inflicting dying or harm in any of the 17 instances within the trial.”
