Lucy Letby 'repeatedly raised the alarm about failing care of babies,' lawyer claims

Killer nurse Lucy Letby has "new hope" with her legal team preparing to submit fresh "evidence" as they seek to launch a further appeal against her convictions. Letby, 35, is currently serving life in jail after being convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of seven others between June 2015 and June 2016.

She came under investigation after several unexpected baby deaths at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital three years after she began working there. But her legal team say they have evidence which suggests she repeatedly raised the alarm about the failing baby department - and was targeted by bosses. Letby's barrister, Mark McDonald, is actively working to overturn her convictions, and says she now has "new hope" after being a "broken" woman.

Mr McDonald is submitting what he described as "new evidence" to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) which investigates potential miscarriages of justice.

And he has also assembled a panel of 14 neonatal and paediatric experts, shared the babies' medical records with them, and held a press conference questioning the prosecution's case.

Lawyers representing the victims' families previously dismissed the defence panel's findings as "full of analytical holes" and a "rehash" of the original defence.

But Mr McDonald is determined to free her from prison where she is currently serving 15 whole-life sentences

Cheshire Police are considering further allegations related to baby deaths where Letby worked, and three senior hospital staff have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

Mr McDonald said: "Remember, 12 months ago, she'd lost every argument. She had been saying that she was not guilty right from the beginning and nobody believed her.

"She went through a whole trial and she was convicted. She went to the Court of Appeal and she was convicted. She had a retrial; she was convicted.

"She went to the Court of Appeal again; she was convicted. And that was it. There, you have a broken person.

"But today, after everything that has happened in the last 12 months, she's got new hope."

Mr McDonald says he chats with Letby at least once every fortnight and visits her regularly at Bronzefield jail in Surrey.

He vowed: "I won't stop. I will not stop until she is out."

Mr McDonald says it's important to “win the public narrative” in a potential miscarriage of justice case before taking on the legal narrative, because “the Court of Appeal will know that the country is going to be looking at them”, he added.

The barrister claimed he's never submitted so much evidence to the CCRC and "if this is not referred back to the Court of Appeal then one has to question the purpose of the CCRC".

Possible offences against Letby are currently under review by Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lawyers.

Cheshire Constabulary revealed that the suspects, who held high-ranking positions at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016, were taken into custody before being bailed, pending further inquiries.

The force also confirmed that inquiries into corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter are ongoing.

Mr McDonald said: "I'm not naive; I'm a criminal defence barrister – I've represented many people over the years who are guilty.

"But I'm also able to see very clearly where this has gone wrong.

"There's no forensic evidence. There's no CCTV. There's no eyewitness evidence."

Several experts have expressed doubts about the safety of Letby's convictions due to contention over the medical and statistical evidence.

Medical professionals have contested the prosecution's interpretation of the infants' records and argued that they instead show each died or deteriorated due to natural causes.

Two previous applications for permission to appeal on behalf of Letby have been rejected by the Court of Appeal.