Lucy Letby’s appeal team is tomorrow due to announce ‘new evidence’ which they believe ‘significantly undermines’ her convictions for murdering babies.
Barrister Mark McDonald, representing the killer neonatal nurse – serving 15 whole life terms – said he would be giving details of ‘fresh developments’ in the case.
Mr McDonald said he will make his announcement tomorrow afternoon at the Royal Society of Medicine in London.
Letby, 34, was convicted of murdering seven babies and six attempted murders of infants in her care at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016, following a trial last year. She was found guilty of a seventh attempted murder after a retrial in the summer.
Mr McDonald said: ‘There will be a press conference by the legal defence team for Lucy Letby to announce fresh developments on the case. At the conference we will also be announcing new evidence, which significantly undermines the convictions.’
The barrister declined to reveal further details in advance of the new evidence or which aspects of the prosecution he believes to be unsafe.
Mr McDonald has revealed meeting more than 50 experts, covering neonatology, pathology and statistics, willing to assist in challenging Letby’s convictions.
Evidence cited by her supporters include flaws in door swipe data used to state the locations of various doctors and nurses when baby collapses and deaths occurred.
The jury was also not told how internal and external reviews – carried out by the hospital, public bodies, medical experts and pathologists – failed to find any evidence of foul play, her supporters argue.
Other grounds include how jurors were not told the neonatal unit had suffered an outbreak of a bug called pseudomonas, and had been criticised for being crowded and understaffed.
Mr McDonald is a human rights barrister whose previous cases include an unsuccessful challenge by Michael Stone, given three life sentences for the murders of Lin Russell, 45, and her six-year-old daughter Megan, who were found bludgeoned to death in Chillenden, Kent, in July 1996.
He also represents Ben Geen, convicted of murdering two of his patients and poisoning 15 others at Horton general hospital in Banbury, Oxfordshire.
Geen, then 25, was given a life sentence with a minimum 30-year term in 2006.
Previously discussing the Letby case, Mr McDonald said in September he plans to take her case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), to apply for it to be sent back to the Court of Appeal.
He said: ‘I knew almost from the start, following this trial, that there is a strong case that she is innocent.
‘The fact is juries get it wrong. And yes, so do the Court of Appeal, history teaches us that.’
The press conference is being held as the ongoing public inquiry into how Letby carried out her crimes – headed by Lady Justice Thirlwall – is taking a break to resume in the New Year.
Last week, it was revealed detectives have interviewed Letby under caution in prison over more deaths and incidents where babies suffered ‘serious harm’ at the Countess and also Liverpool Women’s Hospital, where she spent time on placement in 2012 and early 2015.
Police previously said they are reviewing the care of the more than 4,000 babies Letby looked after during her career.