Questions were raised yesterday over an email from a key witness that appears to contradict medical evidence used to convict Lucy Letby.
During the nurse’s two murder trials Dr Ravi Jayaram testified that she was standing over Baby K’s cot as the girl was deteriorating – and did not call for help.
But it has emerged Dr Jayaram – the only medical witness who was able to point to behaviour directly linking her to babies’ deaths – had previously written an email appearing to contradict that claim.
Campaigners fighting to overturn Letby’s convictions claimed the revelations show the case against her is falling apart.
However, a source close to the case said: ‘The email was disclosed to the prosecution, Letby’s defence team and the judges at the Court of Appeal before her application to appeal her conviction in relation to Baby K.
‘There is no material contradiction between the email and Dr Jayaram’s evidence, so it was deemed irrelevant.’ Letby was refused leave to appeal against her conviction for the attempted murder of Baby K last October.
Yesterday, The Mail on Sunday reported how in an email to colleagues at the Countess of Chester Hospital on May 4, 2017 – before Letby, now 35, was investigated by police – Dr Jayaram wrote: ‘At time of deterioration… Staff nurse Letby at incubator and called Dr Jayaram to inform of low saturations.’
Dr Jayaram also suggested Baby K’s frailty because of premature birth was the cause of death.
Neither of Dr Jayaram’s claims made it into the document that consultants sent to police, the MoS reported.
Citing Dr Jayaram’s evidence in court, the prosecution alleged Letby had deliberately dislodged the breathing tube and Jayaram had caught her ‘virtually red handed’.
Dr Jayaram told the police in a witness statement about Baby K, dated April 17, 2018: ‘Quite often a nurse will come looking for a doctor to assist when a baby begins to deteriorate, Lucy didn’t.’
And, at the 2024 retrial for the attempted murder of the baby girl, he said: ‘I was surprised that help was not called, given (Baby K) was a 25-week gestation baby and her saturations were dropping.’
Last night, a source close to Letby’s defence said: ‘The evidence of Dr Jayaram was central to the conviction of Lucy Letby for Baby K.
‘The emails not only show that his first account completely contradicted what he said to the jury but more concerning is why was this not disclosed by the prosecution during the trial?’
The 2017 email, which has been obtained by the UnHerd website, was disclosed to Letby’s defence only after she was sentenced.
Letby is serving 15 life sentences for killing seven babies and attempting to kill seven more – one twice – between 2015 and 2016.
This month her barrister Mark McDonald presented a 698-page report from 14 experts to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
It concluded the babies died from poor care, prematurity and natural causes. It is understood Dr Jayaram’s email will be added to it.
However, it is unclear whether Mr McDonald was aware the document had been dismissed by appeal judges. Dr Jayaram declined to comment. Mr McDonald was unavailable for comment.
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