QUOTES OF THE DAY: "Dr Gibbs, who has since left the medical profession and is now being ordained in the Church of England, said that he did not believe the new evidence, but thought it should be “carefully considered”. “It is appropriate given all the concerns being raised by various neonatal specialists, some infectious disease specialists, statisticians that those concerns need to be looked at, but I won’t take their concerns at face value,” he said.
“There is criticism that could be made of the claims that they have made and that needs to be carefully considered, which presumably the CCRC will look at. “If it ever comes to the appeal court or a retrial, all the claims put forward by the various neonatal specialists, infectious disease specialists, statisticians are very likely to be highly challenged. “They are not being at the moment, which gives the impression that what the specialists are saying, the statisticians, must be true. I don’t believe it is.”-----------------------------------------
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "A new documentary by The Sun and Channel 5, which aired this week, challenged claims that Letby injected babies with air, causing fatal collapses. Dr Colin Ferguson, a retired vascular surgeon who was the director of professional affairs in Wales for the Royal College of Surgeons, said air should have been found in the hearts of babies if they had died from embolism. But none was discovered during post mortems. In the new film, Dr Ferguson said that the method of death put forward by the prosecution at Letby’s trial “didn’t fit quite properly together”. Dr Dewi Evans, the chief prosecution medical witness, told the documentary that air would have dissipated, or leaked into other tissues. But Dr Ferguson challenged Dr Evans, saying: “No it won’t, it just stays where it is.” Dr Evans said that it was impossible to be sure whether air would be present because there were no published cases in the scientific literature of premature babies dying of air embolism."
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STORY: "Doctor who accused Letby of murder now fears harm was not deliberate," by Science Editor Sarah Knapton, published by The Telegraph on September 22, 2067. Sarah Knapton has previously been named Science Journalist of the Year and was Highly Commended at the Society of Editors Press Awards. She is known for her coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Lucy Letby case."
PHOTO CAPTION: "Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven others at the Countess of Chester hospital between 2015 and 2016."
A doctor who accused Lucy Letby of killing babies has admitted “there may not have been deliberate harm”.
Dr John Gibbs was one of a number of consultants who first noticed that the nurse was present at some of the collapses and deaths of infants at the Countess of Chester hospital in 2015 and 2016.
Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more. She is serving 15 whole life sentences in jail, meaning she will never be released.
Dr Gibbs told The Sun newspaper that it would be “appalling” if Letby had been jailed for crimes she had not committed, and said that a retrial might be “the most appropriate thing for everyone”.
“If it wasn’t Letby, do I think someone else was harming them? No, I don’t,” he said.
“I hold a very small concern there may not have been any deliberate harm done.”
Last year in a Netflix documentary, Dr Gibbs said that he had a “tiny tiny guilt; Did we get the wrong person?”
Since the convictions, leading scientists, medics, senior police officers and politicians have come forward to criticise the investigation and trial, while new scientific evidence has emerged suggesting natural explanations for the deaths and collapses of infants.
Dr John Gibbs said the new evidence should be ‘carefully considered’
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is considering whether to send the case back to the Court of Appeal, with a decision expected before Christmas.
Dr Gibbs, who has since left the medical profession and is now being ordained in the Church of England, said that he did not believe the new evidence, but thought it should be “carefully considered”.
“It is appropriate given all the concerns being raised by various neonatal specialists, some infectious disease specialists, statisticians that those concerns need to be looked at, but I won’t take their concerns at face value,” he said.
“There is criticism that could be made of the claims that they have made and that needs to be carefully considered, which presumably the CCRC will look at.
“If it ever comes to the appeal court or a retrial, all the claims put forward by the various neonatal specialists, infectious disease specialists, statisticians are very likely to be highly challenged.
“They are not being at the moment, which gives the impression that what the specialists are saying, the statisticians, must be true. I don’t believe it is.”
A new documentary by The Sun and Channel 5, which aired this week, challenged claims that Letby injected babies with air, causing fatal collapses.
Dr Colin Ferguson, a retired vascular surgeon who was the director of professional affairs in Wales for the Royal College of Surgeons, said air should have been found in the hearts of babies if they had died from embolism. But none was discovered during post mortems.
In the new film, Dr Ferguson said that the method of death put forward by the prosecution at Letby’s trial “didn’t fit quite properly together”.
Dr Dewi Evans, the chief prosecution medical witness, told the documentary that air would have dissipated, or leaked into other tissues.
But Dr Ferguson challenged Dr Evans, saying: “No it won’t, it just stays where it is.”
Dr Evans said that it was impossible to be sure whether air would be present because there were no published cases in the scientific literature of premature babies dying of air embolism.
PHOTO CAPTION: "New scientific evidence suggests natural explanations for the deaths at the Countess of Chester hospital Credit: Jacob King."
Dr Ferguson said he had found eight cases of air embolism in preterms, adding: “In every single case there is air in the right side of the heart or the proximal large veins or the pulmonary arteries.
“The real world data says in order to die from venous air embolism, you have to have these features.
“There isn’t any evidence that it happened. These babies have not died from air embolism.”
Cheshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service maintain that Letby was fairly convicted at two trials and the Court of Appeal has turned down her leave to appeal on two occasions."
The documentary Lucy Letby: Scapegoat? is available now on Channel 5.
A doctor who accused Lucy Letby of killing babies has admitted “there may not have been deliberate harm”.
Dr John Gibbs was one of a number of consultants who first noticed that the nurse was present at some of the collapses and deaths of infants at the Countess of Chester hospital in 2015 and 2016.
Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more. She is serving 15 whole life sentences in jail, meaning she will never be released.
Dr Gibbs told The Sun newspaper that it would be “appalling” if Letby had been jailed for crimes she had not committed, and said that a retrial might be “the most appropriate thing for everyone”.
“If it wasn’t Letby, do I think someone else was harming them? No, I don’t,” he said.
“I hold a very small concern there may not have been any deliberate harm done.”
Last year in a Netflix documentary, Dr Gibbs said that he had a “tiny tiny guilt; Did we get the wrong person?”
Since the convictions, leading scientists, medics, senior police officers and politicians have come forward to criticise the investigation and trial, while new scientific evidence has emerged suggesting natural explanations for the deaths and collapses of infants.
Dr John Gibbs said the new evidence should be ‘carefully considered’
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is considering whether to send the case back to the Court of Appeal, with a decision expected before Christmas.
Dr Gibbs, who has since left the medical profession and is now being ordained in the Church of England, said that he did not believe the new evidence, but thought it should be “carefully considered”.
“It is appropriate given all the concerns being raised by various neonatal specialists, some infectious disease specialists, statisticians that those concerns need to be looked at, but I won’t take their concerns at face value,” he said.
“There is criticism that could be made of the claims that they have made and that needs to be carefully considered, which presumably the CCRC will look at.
“If it ever comes to the appeal court or a retrial, all the claims put forward by the various neonatal specialists, infectious disease specialists, statisticians are very likely to be highly challenged.
“They are not being at the moment, which gives the impression that what the specialists are saying, the statisticians, must be true. I don’t believe it is.”
A new documentary by The Sun and Channel 5, which aired this week, challenged claims that Letby injected babies with air, causing fatal collapses.
Dr Colin Ferguson, a retired vascular surgeon who was the director of professional affairs in Wales for the Royal College of Surgeons, said air should have been found in the hearts of babies if they had died from embolism. But none was discovered during post mortems.
In the new film, Dr Ferguson said that the method of death put forward by the prosecution at Letby’s trial “didn’t fit quite properly together”.
Dr Dewi Evans, the chief prosecution medical witness, told the documentary that air would have dissipated, or leaked into other tissues.
But Dr Ferguson challenged Dr Evans, saying: “No it won’t, it just stays where it is.”
Dr Evans said that it was impossible to be sure whether air would be present because there were no published cases in the scientific literature of premature babies dying of air embolism.
PHOTO CAPTION: "New scientific evidence suggests natural explanations for the deaths at the Countess of Chester hospital Credit: Jacob King."
Dr Ferguson said he had found eight cases of air embolism in preterms, adding: “In every single case there is air in the right side of the heart or the proximal large veins or the pulmonary arteries.
“The real world data says in order to die from venous air embolism, you have to have these features.
“There isn’t any evidence that it happened. These babies have not died from air embolism.”
Cheshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service maintain that Letby was fairly convicted at two trials and the Court of Appeal has turned down her leave to appeal on two occasions."
The documentary Lucy Letby: Scapegoat? is available now on Channel 5.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
