Lucy Letby key witness changed his mind about giving evidence on baby’s death

An expert medical witness in the trial of Lucy Letby has said he has changed his view of how one of the babies was killed. It comes amid mounting questions over the reliability of the evidence used to convict Letby of murdering seven babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital from 2015.

The prosecution said during her trial that one of the infants, known as Baby C, was murdered after air was pumped into his stomach.

During the trial, Dr Dewi Evans gave evidence that he believed the bubble of air had caused the boy’s stomach to swell, after being being pumped in, which “splintered his diaphragm” and crushed the lungs, making breathing impossible.

His suspicions about the death were due to an X-ray that showed the baby had an unusual amount of air in his stomach.

This could have been caused by pumping air into his feeding tube, he suggested.

Now, a File on 4 investigation – broadcast on Tuesday – has revealed that Letby was not working at the hospital when the X-ray was taken.

Dr Evans has told The Telegraph he no longer believes air pumped into the stomach was the cause of the death. Although, he still believes Letby did murder the baby, but his view of how she did it has changed.

He said: “The stomach bubble was not responsible for his death. (It) probably destabilised him though. His demise occurred the following day, around midnight, and due to air in the bloodstream.

“Letby was there. I amended my opinion after hearing the evidence from the local nurses and doctors. Baby C was always the most difficult from a clinical point of view. So I understand the confusion.”

Letby insists she is innocent and the case is a huge miscarriage of justice and she hopes the Criminal Cases Review Commission will review her case.

Nicholas Johnson KC, the prosecutor at Letby’s trial, said that Baby C had been murdered “by air inserted into his stomach via the nasogastric tube, not into his bloodstream”.

In an interview for File on 4, Dr Evans said the “biggest concern was that the X-ray showed a huge great bubble in the stomach and far more gas than I would expect”.

However, it then emerged that the X-ray had been taken on June 12, 2015, when Letby was not working, and had not been in the hospital for two days.

Baby C then collapsed and died two days later, when Letby was working on the night shift. The prosecution’s suggestion was that he was killed by another injection of air into his stomach.

Ben Myers KC, defending Letby, pointed out she had not been on shift when the X-ray was taken.

During summing up, Judge Mr Justice Goss did not remind the jury that Letby had not been present on that date.

He did say that the radiologists’ evidence showed the baby’s stomach “was full of gas”, which could have been the result of deliberate administration of air.

Mark McDonald, her new barrister, said of the new bloodstream theory: “It’s remarkable that out of nowhere we have got this new hypothesis. This was never there beforehand, it just came out of thin blue air.

“There is no evidence of anyone seeing it happen, no evidence from a diagnostic perspective and no evidence in relation to what line the air is supposed to have gone through.

“We now have expert evidence to say in fact this baby was very poorly as the result of a bowel obstruction and needed specialist attention which it did not receive, and likely surgery to save its life, but this did not happen.”

File on Four also asked five senior clinicians to review Baby C’s medical notes that were made available during the trial, and all thought the child should have been in a higher level unit.

Prof Colin Morely, a retired professor of neonatology from the University of Cambridge, told the he believed Baby C had died from natural causes.

Since the Letby trial several scientists, statisticians and clinicians have come forward to raise concerns about some evidence that was presented to the jury.

James Phillips, a former government science adviser for , said: “Pivotal evidence for one of the Lucy Letby murder convictions is deeply flawed, as she appears to have never met the baby at the time it was obtained.

“She had never been on shift. This, quite obviously, calls into very serious question whether the conviction it underpins is safe.

“Serious doubts have emerged about whether there was ever a crime at all.”

A CPS spokesperson said: “Two juries and three appeal court judges have reviewed a multitude of different strands of evidence against Lucy Letby. She has been convicted on 15 separate counts following two separate jury trials.

“In May, the Court of Appeal dismissed Letby’s leave to on all grounds – rejecting her argument that expert prosecution evidence was flawed.”