Why calls to free killer nurse Lucy Letby are getting louder

Lawyers on behalf of Letby to apply for official review

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Former nurse Lucy Letby who is serving 15 life sentences for the murder of seven newborns between  2015 and 2016. Photograph: Facebook
Former nurse Lucy Letby who is serving 15 life sentences for the murder of seven newborns between 2015 and 2016. Photograph: Facebook

When nurse Lucy Letby was convicted in August 2023 of murdering seven newborn babies and attempting to murder seven more in the hospital where she worked she became Britain’s most prolific child serial killer.

Now, though, questions about the safety of her conviction are growing with hordes of amateur sleuths putting forward their theories online, notably picking apart the strategy of her defence team during the 10 month trial. Last week, British politician David Davis appeared on breakfast TV adding his voice to the campaign to free Letby saying she was innocent.

However the Court of Appeal, having reviewed the evidence, ruled in July that her conviction was safe.

Letby has now changed her legal team and its next step may be to bring her case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

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David James Smith, author and former commissioner at the Criminal Cases Review Commission, explores the case for In the News and explains why those now calling the Letby conviction a miscarriage of justice may not have all the facts.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan and Aideen Finnegan.

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison is an Irish Times journalist and cohost of In the News podcast