An expert witness in the trial of serial killer nurse Lucy Letby reported a further 25 suspicious incidents to police, it has been revealed.
Dr. Dewi Evans described finding more concerning cases after reviewing the 82 medical records she had been provided following her murder convictions.
The pediatrician, 75 years old, he told the Telegraph He had now stopped working on the Operation Hummingbird investigation in Letby and did not know why follow-up action was not taken because he was no longer licensed to practice, having retired in 2009.
Letby, 34, was found guilty of seven counts of murder and seven of attempted murder relating to 13 victims – having twice tried to kill one of the babies – at Manchester Crown Court in August last year.
She was sentenced to 14 life sentences on each guilty count, meaning she will die in prison and has no prospect of parole.
Dr Dewi Evans described finding more worrying cases after reviewing the 82 medical records he had been provided, following the murder convictions of Lucy Letby.
Lucy Letby, 34, was convicted of seven counts of murder and seven of attempted murder at Manchester Crown Court in August last year.
The trial judge, Mr Goss, said she had been responsible for a “cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder” between June 2015 and June 2016.
A jury in a new trial in July convicted Letby of the attempted murder of another child, known as Baby K.
A public inquiry is underway examining how he was able to kill the babies while on duty at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire.
It is also looking at how the NHS handled the case and its response to doctors who raised concerns.
Doctors at the Countess say they repeatedly raised concerns about a rise in deaths in the neonatal unit to hospital bosses, but their concerns were dismissed and no action was taken.
The inquiry has been told that executives will question exactly when they were specifically told Letby was linked to any foul play.
Dr Evans was the doctor who originally assessed the babies’ medical records at the hospital after consultants raised concerns about deaths under Letby’s care.
He has now told the Telegraph: “Following the verdict, I wrote to Cheshire Police last September and said: ‘Look, I’ve only made preliminary reports on this, but I think they need to be looked at in more detail.’
‘And I have just listed 25 cases of mine, and nothing may come of any of them; For example, I found a baby whose breathing tube was displaced.
‘Well, you can’t test anything without a displaced breathing tube, but if that breathing tube was displaced and there was no obvious reason for it, then you might be a little worried.
Trial judge Mr Justice Goss said Lucy Letby (pictured) had been responsible for a “cruel, calculated and cynical campaign of child murder” between June 2015 and June 2016.
Body cameras captured the moment Letby was arrested at her home in July 2018.
Image of a Letby court artist testifying at Manchester Crown Court in June this year.
‘And then there are other babies who suddenly became seriously ill with an infection. Granted, premature babies are always at risk of infection. Then there were other worrying cases.”
He also said 10 deaths were not presented to the criminal trial jury because they lacked “key consistencies” that suggested foul play.
Some doubts have been raised over Letby’s guilt in recent months, with some members of the Royal Statistical Society expressing concern about the use of statistics to secure a conviction on the basis of probabilities.
But Dr Evans said today: “There were problems with those seven (babies) who were suspects.” Why did this baby collapse? That’s suspicious. Babies don’t do that all of a sudden.
‘Why haven’t these babies responded to resuscitation? That in itself is suspicious.
“The most surprising thing was the comments from neonatologists who should know better, because they were commenting on cases where they had not seen the clinical records, they had not been in court.”
The criminal trial was told that after Letby was removed from frontline nursing in July 2016, she filed a complaint against the hospital.
This was confirmed and managers instructed the consultants to write a letter of apology to Letby, who was informed that preparations would be made for his return to the unit.
Only because the consultants continued to object and insisted that the police be called, this never happened.
Following Letby’s sentencing in August last year, Countess of Chester Hospital medical director Dr Nigel Scawn said: “I speak for the entire trust when I say how deeply saddened and shocked we are by Lucy Letby’s crimes. “.
A public inquiry is underway examining how Letby (pictured) was able to kill the babies while on duty at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire.
Doctors at the Countess of Chester Hospital (pictured) say they have repeatedly raised concerns about a rise in deaths in the neonatal unit to hospital bosses.
Police officers stand guard outside Liverpool Town Hall on September 10; the building houses the ongoing Thirlwall investigation into the Lucy Letby case.
‘We are very sorry that these crimes were committed at our hospital and our thoughts remain with all the families and loved ones of the babies who were harmed or killed. We cannot begin to understand what they have been through.
‘This case has had a profound impact on our patients and our local community and also on our staff, who come to work every day determined to provide safe, high-quality care to all our patients.
‘Our staff are devastated by what has happened and we are committed to ensuring lessons continue to be learned.
“We appreciate the cooperation of our staff, especially those who have maintained the utmost professionalism in giving testimony in this trial.”
