The main prosecution witness in the Lucy Letby trial is at the center of a fresh controversy after it emerged that a judge in a previous case had dismissed his evidence as “useless”.
Dewi Evans’ testimony was central to the nurse’s conviction last year of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others, but the reliability of her evidence has been questioned by a growing number of distinguished experts.
Earlier this month, following a Radio 4 investigation, Dr Evans changed his mind about how Letby allegedly killed one of his victims after discovering the nurse was not even at the hospital where the baby died at the time. an apparently damning x-ray was performed. was taken.
It no longer claims that air was introduced into the baby’s stomach, but now says that Letby injected air into the baby’s bloodstream.
Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering babies at the hospital where she worked as a neonatal nurse
The testimony of Dewi Evans (pictured) was instrumental in the nurse’s conviction last year for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others.
Letby is serving a life sentence in prison after being convicted of the crimes.
Last week, judges rejected Letby’s request to appeal his conviction at a retrial in July on an attempted murder charge, in what was the last avenue explored before a new legal team begins work. in your case.
As part of the new measures, Letby’s lawyers plan to highlight Dr. Evans, including the fact that in December 2022, a judge declared that his report in a case related to parents’ access to their children did not ” no effort to provide a balanced opinion. ‘.
Lord Justice Jackson, a judge at the Court of Appeal, described his evidence as “useless” and said: “You either know what your professional colleagues have concluded and ignore it or you have taken no steps to inform yourself of their views.”
‘Either of these approaches amounts to a breach of appropriate professional conduct. No attempt has been made to address the full range of medical information or the powerful conflicting indicators. Rather, the report has the hallmarks of a “story-making” exercise that exonerates the applicants.
“It ends biased and partisan expressions of opinion that are outside Dr. Evans’ professional competence and have no place in an authoritative expert report.”
John and Susan Letby, parents of Lucy Letby, arrive at Manchester Crown Court for their daughters’ murder trial in 2022.
Screenshot taken from body camera footage issued by Cheshire Police of the arrest of Lucy Letby.
Court artist’s drawing of Lucy Letby giving evidence during her trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Dr Evans said he was “more than happy” to stand by his report. He insisted: ‘I have prepared dozens of reports for the Family Court.
‘I have a high demand for opinions due to my experience as a witness. This is something unique for me.”
Experts have increasingly questioned how Letby was convicted with only circumstantial evidence and disputed statistical probabilities. The prosecution later admitted that the evidence presented at trial about the door slamming was not true.
On Friday, the New York Times became the latest global media outlet to raise questions about the safety of his conviction, after questions first emerged in a 13,000-word New Yorker article in May.
Since then, dozens of statisticians and medical experts have expressed concern about the prosecution’s case.
A total of 24 experts in statistics, forensic sciences and neonatology have written to the British Government pointing out a number of worrying anomalies, including the fact that several baby deaths in the unit when Letby was not present had been excluded from the prosecution’s analysis. .
Supporters of former nurse Lucy Letby demonstrate outside the High Court in London during her appeal hearing in April.
An aerial view of the Countess of Chester Hospital where Lucy Letby worked
Mugshot released by Cheshire Police of child serial killer Lucy Letby
