A mother whose baby boy Lucy Letby tried to murder hit back last night at the ‘upsetting’ and ‘disrespectful’ attempts to free her.
The woman spoke out after a panel of experts claimed the former neo-natal nurse’s convictions were ‘one of the major injustices of modern times’.
Letby’s new legal team yesterday unveiled a report which claimed all of the 14 babies murdered or harmed by her were victims of bad medical care and died or collapsed because of natural causes.
They have lodged an application with the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, in a bid to have her convictions overturned.
Retired Canadian medic Dr Shoo Lee, who presented the findings of 14 international experts at a two-hour press conference, claimed the panel understood the ‘stress and anguish’ of the families involved and insisted their aim was simply ‘to tell the truth’.
But the mother of a baby boy who Letby, 35, was convicted of attempting to murder described the press conference as a ‘publicity stunt’.
‘We want to hit back,’ the parent, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said.
‘Every aspect of what they are doing is so disrespectful, it is very upsetting.
‘They said the parents want to know the truth, but we’ve had the truth.
‘We believe in the British justice system, we believe the jury made the right decision.
‘We already have the truth and this panel of so-called experts don’t speak for us.’
The mother claimed she had previously emailed Tory MP David Davis, who led the press conference, to complain about his involvement but he had ‘ignored her’.
She accused him of ‘abusing his parliamentary position’ to push for Letby’s freedom.
‘It’s outrageous,’ she said, adding she had contacted the MP after he said he would be happy to talk to any of the families, but he did not reply to her message.
‘I told him exactly who I was and he didn’t respond.’
The mother added that the way Mr Davis introduced Dr Lee as the ‘star of the show’ and used numbers to identify the children in the case just ‘screamed disrespect’.
‘This isn’t a show, this is our real lives,’ she added.
‘At one point, just as they had discussed an alarm being silenced on the unit, the panel fell about laughing when a phone alarm went off, it was like they were mocking what had gone on, which was extremely distasteful and inappropriate.’
Mr Davis was contacted for comment.
Letby is serving 15 whole life orders after being found guilty of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
She has twice had applications to quash her convictions rejected by the Court of Appeal.
But Letby has always maintained her innocence.
The mother said it was ‘misleading’ for the panel to suggest yesterday that they had ‘new evidence’ that cast doubt on Letby’s convictions when such themes had already been examined at length during her ten-month trial and dismissed by the jury.
A Criminal Cases Review Commission spokesman appealed for ‘everyone [to] remember the families affected by events at the Countess of Chester Hospital’.
He added: ‘We have received a preliminary application in relation to Ms Letby’s case, and work has begun to assess the application. We anticipate further submissions being made to us.’
Mark McDonald, Letby’s barrister, said she was following developments from her prison cell at HMP Bronzefield and had ‘hope’ she could eventually be released.
Last year she was interviewed in prison by detectives from Cheshire Police, who continue to investigate her in connection with more murders and attacks over her five-year career.
The mother added that she had ‘total confidence’ in Cheshire Constabulary, adding: ‘We have every faith in what they did and their continuing thorough investigation.’
A public inquiry into how Letby was allowed to commit her crimes is also due to report later this year.
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