An influential Tory veteran is demanding a review into ‘serious professional failings’ that led to the conviction of Lucy Letby.
Sir David Davis, elected as a Conservative MP in 1987, will write to the Director of Public Prosecutions asking him to conduct a review into the handling of Letby’s case.
Speaking in the Commons Chamber yesterday, Sir David branded Letby’s conviction a ‘miscarriage of justice’ and pointed to multiple ‘failures of expertise’ from both Cheshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
In failing to follow ‘all reasonable lines of inquiry’ during their investigation, Sir David said Cheshire Police did ‘not follow the letter of the law or best professional practice’.
And he went on to accuse both Cheshire Police and the CPS of ignoring advice to draw witnesses from a panel of independent experts for Letby’s trial.
He said: ‘They failed to pursue alternative lines of inquiry.
‘They failed to refer the case to the appropriate specialist authorities.
‘They failed to conduct proper due diligence on the appointment of key witnesses, expert witnesses.
Sir David Davis, elected as a Conservative MP in 1987, will write to the Director of Public Prosecutions asking him to conduct a review into the handling of Lucy Letby’s case
Lucy Letby, who was a nurse on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester hospital, was convicted of multiple counts of murder and attempted murder of babies under her care – but has always maintained her innocence
‘They failed to engage with real experts about complex statistical evidence and failed to correctly inform the jury of that fact.
‘They failed, on several occasions, to disclose critical material to the defence.
‘On the evidence before us, there have been clear, serious departures from statutory guidance and multiple deviations from best professional practice.’
Sir David also urged the police to provide Letby’s legal defence with ‘a whole series of documentation’ relating to their inquiries.
And he added he would publish a ‘full list online’ of the information needing to be shared – including senior investigating officers’ policy books and decision books, records of identified lines of inquiry, logs kept by functional managers and minutes of all the meetings held.
Letby, who was a nurse on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester hospital, was convicted of multiple counts of murder and attempted murder of babies under her care – but has always maintained her innocence.
Her case is being reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), after judges rejected her bids to challenge her convictions.
The former Brexit Secretary compared the Letby case to that of Sally Clark, a woman who was found guilty of the murder of her two infant sons, but whose conviction was overturned three years later.
The prosecution had relied on flawed statistical evidence about the likelihood of two babies in an affluent family both dying of sudden infant death syndrome (Sids).
Sir David said: ‘Despite warning signs of the Sally Clark case, we see that Cheshire Police have either ignored or broken the rules, disregarding relevant safeguards time and time again.
Responding, policing minister Sarah Jones said MPs need to be ‘very careful to avoid implying impropriety where none has actually been established’.
She added that ‘there has been a proper process involving independent assessment by the CPS, trial by a jury, and two appeal processes that has resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of Lucy Letby’.
