The lawyers of former senior managers at the Countess Chester Hospital in North England requested a stop of a public investigation by Baby Lucy Letby murder, a former nurses, referring to new evidence they said she had called her guilt.
Speaking in front of the investigation on Tuesday, Kate Blackwell, a lawyer who represents these executives, said that new evidence that appeared in recent months suggested that the babies who died or unexpectedly demolished in 2015 and 2016 were not intentionally harmed, but died of other reasons.
“There seems to be a real probability that there are alternative explanations for these deaths and inexplicable collapse, namely poor clinical management and care and natural causes,” said Mrs. Blackwell. In order to continue the investigation without considering these alternative explanations, she claimed: “The defeat of the purpose of any public test that must be a fully and fearless understanding of the circumstances in which these babies have died.”
Mrs. Letby, 35, a former nurse in a neonatal unit at Countess Chester Hospital, was found guilty in Two trials 2023 and 2024 murders and attempts to kill 14 babies in her care. She always maintained her innocence. After Mrs. Letby was found guilty, the British Health Minister announced a public investigation – an official investigation conducted by a judge, with public hearing – to discover that a serial killer could escape with such crimes for so long.
What is crucial, the investigation was scheduled to blame Mrs. Letby, even as Serious questions began to be asked last year through the validity of their beliefs, first ua 13,000 words New Yorker Article in May, then dozens of statistics and medical experts.
Last month, an independent council of a newborn expert, it said that revealed that No evidence That Mrs. Letby killed or tried to kill anyone of the newborn baby in her care. Instead, “In all cases, death or injury arose due to natural causes or just bad medical care,” said Panela chief, Dr. Shoo Lee, at a press conference.
Mrs. Letby exhausted all her legal appeals on the courts. But last month, Mrs. Letby’s lawyer filed a preliminary request to the British Criminal Review Commission, an independent body responsible for the investigation of a claim for abortion of justice and which can return cases to the appellant’s court.
In her request to stop the investigation on Tuesday, Mrs. Blackwell was represented by the senior managerial team of the Countess Chester Hospital, including Ian Harvey, her former medical director; Alison Kelly, former Nursing Director; Antony Chambers, former hospital executive; And Susan Hodkinson, her former director of people.
Mrs. Blackwell pointed to the Dr. Lee Panel Report as a reason to stop the investigation, along with Mrs. Letby’s application at the Criminal Council Commission.
“This new evidence deserves and therefore CCRC has seriously considered him,” Mrs. Blackwell said. “Where there is a realistic possibility, as it seems to be the case here, that CCRC can send Mrs. Letby’s beliefs at the appellant’s court and abolished there, we claim that the investigation process must have stopped.”
Mrs. Blackwell also claimed that there was a “irresistible likelihood” that memories contained in witness statements, delivered to the investigation almost a decade after the events surveyed, “on Mrs. Letby’s murder.
Investigation – known as a Thirlwall investigation after an older judge who runs him, Kathryn Thirlwall – began last fall. It is planned to hear a series of final arguments this week from lawyers for basic participants in the procedure, including families of children who died or have been saved at the hospital, as well as staff and administrators. Justice Thirlwall is expected to prepare a report that will be announced later this year.
Last week, Cheshire Constabulary, police forces responsible for Mrs. Letby’s investigation, said he was expanding his own investigation into the hospital’s response to the death cases to include an investigation into a potential rude negligence.
“This is a separate misdemeanor of corporate murder and is focused on the rough negligence or inactivity of individuals,” police said in her statement. “It is important to note that this does not affect Lucy Letby’s beliefs for multiple murder acts and attempted murder.”
Speaking on the eve of the hearing this week, Mark McDonald, a defense lawyer currently represented by Mrs. Letby, who appealed to the Criminal Criminal Code Commission, said he had taken a question in the police who had published information on the investigation of rough neglect.
“Why did the police announce a press statement on the eve of this legal argument, saying they would investigate?” Said Mr. McDonald. “I think it’s an attempt to control the narrative before a legal argument.”
Speaking during hearing on Tuesday, Peter Skelton, a lawyer who represents the family of seven babies treated in the hospital, criticized the arguments of former executives, calling their position a “arrogant, self -service fantasy.”
“In their evidence and in the submission that has submitted their advice to this research, it seems that they have lived and still live in an alternative and internal contradictory reality, the one where the murder and attempts of murder did not occur,” he said.
