Lucy Letby did not murder babies, medical experts claim

A neonatologist says he believes the findings that led to the conviction of British nurse Lucy Letby for the deaths of seven babies are questionable, arguing that the infants were not murdered.

Letby, 35, was sentenced to 15 whole life orders, meaning she will never be released from prison. This followed her conviction for murdering seven newborns and attempting to murder another seven while working at a British hospital in 2015 and 2016. The high-profile case made her the country's most prolific child serial killer in modern history, but Letby has consistently maintained her innocence.

Retired Canadian neonatologist Shoo Lee said at a news conference on Tuesday that a team of 14 doctors concluded that the newborns either died of natural causes or poor medical care. Dr. Lee stated that his own research was cited in Letby's trial but was misused. Instead, he said the group is refuting the prosecution's argument that many of the babies died at Letby's hand because she injected air into their bloodstreams.

"In summary, ladies and gentlemen, we found no murders," Dr. Lee said. "In all cases, the death or collapse was due to natural causes or simply poor medical care." Letby's legal team launched two attempts to challenge her conviction last year, but both were rejected. Following Tuesday's news conference, Letby's lawyers filed a new request with the UK Criminal Cases Review Commission to overturn her conviction.

Defense attorney Mark McDonald stated that there is now "overwhelming evidence" that Letby was wrongly convicted. "If (the experts) are correct, then there was no crime committed." During the trial, the prosecution said Letby left virtually no trace when she killed the babies. They claimed that in some instances, she injected air into their bloodstreams or stomachs, causing embolisms. Dr. Lee said the prosecution's main expert, Dr. Dewi Evans, diagnosed the babies with air embolisms without finding any other cause of death. But Dr. Lee stated that embolisms are very rare, and the skin discoloration described in the trial was inconsistent with that diagnosis. "The notion that these babies were diagnosed with air embolization because they collapsed and had these skin discolorations actually has no evidence," he said.