Former nurse Lucy Letby has brought in a new legal team to pursue a possible appeal against her murder convictions, it emerged this week.
Mark McDonald of Furnival Chambers, revealed yesterday that he is representing Letby, who is serving a whole life sentence after being convicted of seven counts of murder and the attempted murder of seven others.
McDonald posted on Twitter that he is providing his services for free on the matter and is working with veteran MP David Davis, who has voiced scepticism about the safety of Letby’s convictions.
McDonald added: ‘The day after Lucy was convicted I raised concerns. I was attacked for speaking out even reported to my professional body. There are many hurdles to overcome in coming years but one day justice will be done and those wrongly convicted will be freed.’
He told the BBC’s File on 4 that he planned to take Letby’s case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission to apply for it to be sent back to the Court of Appeal.
McDonald told the programme: ‘I knew almost from the start, following this trial, that there is a strong case that she is innocent. The fact is juries get it wrong. And yes, so do the Court of Appeal, history teaches us that.’
Letby, a nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital, was convicted in two separate trials of murdering seven babies who were under her care between June 2015 and June 2016. An inquiry into the hospital will begin next week.
But some medical experts have raised concerns about the evidence that was presented at her trials. It was then reported this week in the Guardian that handwritten notes used to convict Letby were written on the advice of professionals to deal with extreme stress.
Davis told Good Morning Britain earlier this week that neonatal deaths at the hospital during the shifts when Letby was working accounted for only half the total over the period, with those other deaths where she was absent disregarded by prosecutors.
