CPS admits it made mistakes with Lucy Letby evidence: Door swipe data 'vital' to showing which nurses could have been on the ward was incorrect
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Evidence used in the trial of Lucy Letby showing which staff came in and out of a baby unit was incorrect, the Crown Prosecution Service has admitted.
The killer nurse was last year found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
A jury at a retrial last month convicted Letby of the attempted murder of another child – known as Baby K.
But prosecutor Nick Johnson told the court during her retrial that data showing which nurses and doctors swiped into and out of the intensive care ward had been 'mislabelled'.
During the first trial, the prosecution said consultant nurse Dr Ravi Jayaram had found Letby standing over the deteriorating Baby K at 3.50am on February 17, 2016, and that its breathing tube had been dislodged.
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Lucy Letby (pictured) has been found guilty of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of seven others at the Countess of Chester Hospital
Face of evil: Lucy Letby's mugshot (left) and as a young schoolgirl (right)
The prosecution argued the door-swipe data showed that Baby K's designated nurse vacated the intensive care unit at 3.47am.
However, the amended data in the retrial showed the nurse had returned at that time, so Letby cannot have been alone.
In both trials, door-swipe data was used to show that Letby was the only nurse present in the unit when babies rapidly deteriorated.
Although the discrepancy was discovered and corrected for the retrial, Conservative MP Sir David Davis has written to the chief crown prosecutor of Mersey-Cheshire CPS demanding clarification, the Telegraph reported last night.
He said: 'It is essential the CPS makes it plain whether those errors occurred throughout any of the evidence of the first trial.'
The validity of Letby's initial trial has recently come under scrutiny as several scientists second-guessed the medical evidence heard by the jury.
During the initial trial, the prosecution argued that Letby was 'a constant malevolent presence' when babies became ill or died at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
They used door swipe data to show that Letby was the only nurse present when Baby O first collapsed.
The prosecution said that 'within a few minutes of Lucy Letby coming back on the neonatal unit, as shown by the door entry swipe system, [the baby] suffered his first collapse'.
In a separate incident, Baby A's collapse was found to be consistent with a deliberate injection of air when only Letby was in the room.
Lucy Letby, 34, was convicted last year of murdering seven premature babies and trying to kill six others (she is pictured on the neo-natal ward in 2013)
She inflicted unimaginable harm on her victims - all while appearing as a smiling, harmless nurse. This image was taken in 2012 three years before Letby's killing spree began
This image shows Letby being arrested by cops at her home in north England in 2018 after she went on a year-long killing spree, murdering seven babies and trying to kill seven more
During her court case, Letby wept as she was jailed for life for her killing spree. She is pictured in a court portrait in August 2023
A spokesman for the Mersey-Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service said: 'The CPS can confirm that accurate door swipe data was presented in the retrial.'
Letby received a whole life sentence and will die in prison as a result of her crimes.
Sir David is currently analysing the evidence used to convict the neonatal nurse.
The former Brexit secretary launched his investigation after doubts were raised about Letby's guilt - with some members of the Royal Statistical Society expressing concerns over the use of statistics to secure a conviction on the basis of probabilities.
Mr Davis, a civil liberties campaigner, is understood to be concerned about the justice system's institutional reluctance to admit to its own failings, leading innocent people to languish in prison.
Last week he told The Daily T Podcast that he would visit Letby in prison if he was 'at least three-quarters persuaded that she's innocent'.
Supporters of ex-nurse Lucy Letby demonstrate outside the High Court in London during her appeal hearing in April
The former Brexit secretary is currently analysing the evidence used to convict the neonatal nurse of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more
He said: 'I may not be allowed to, her lawyer may say no; she may say no. That's got to be with her permission.
'For me to do anything about this, I've got to be at least three-quarters persuaded that she's innocent.
'I'll read millions of words of evidence over August and come to a conclusion in probably September or maybe October.'
Mr Davis has said that if after speaking to experts, he does come to the conclusion that she is innocent he will raise the case with parliament and seek to get a Criminal Case Review Commission referral.
