Child serial killer Lucy Letby’s legal team will announce what is claimed to be “new medical evidence” from a panel of international experts, next week.
The panel, to be chaired by Conservative MP Sir David Davis, will include retired neonatologist Dr Shoo Lee, who is expected to disclose new analysis at a central London press conference on Tuesday.
The evidence is said to be the unanimous findings of independent analysis by 14 neonatal experts.
Dr Lee was the top paediatrician at Mount Sinai Hospital in Canada for more than a decade, and founded the Canadian Neonatal Network, which includes 27 hospitals and 16 universities.
Tory former minister Sir David, who earlier this week used justice questions in the House of Commons to raise concerns on behalf of Letby’s legal team who are seeking to reopen her case, will chair the panel and the former nurse’s barrister, Mark McDonald, will also be present.
Letby, from Hereford, was convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of seven others, with two attempts on one child, when she worked on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
After two trials, she is serving 15 whole-life orders, making her only the fourth woman in UK history to be told she will never be released from prison.
Her legal team last month said it would make a fresh bid to challenge her convictions on the grounds that the lead prosecution medical expert at her trial was “not reliable”.
Mark McDonald, Letby’s barrister, is working to reopen her case (Jonathan Brady/PA)
Mr McDonald said he would seek permission from the Court of Appeal to take the “exceptional but necessary decision” to apply to reopen her case.
Retired consultant paediatrician Dr Dewi Evans said concerns regarding his evidence were “unsubstantiated, unfounded, inaccurate”.
Sir David, the MP for Goole and Pocklington, wants a retrial for Letby and said he believes it will “clear” the former nurse.
A public inquiry examining events at the Countess of Chester Hospital following Letby’s multiple convictions was launched, and findings by chairwoman Lady Justice Thirlwall are expected this autumn.