In this frame from a police body-camera video provided by Cheshire Constabulary, Lucy Letby is arrested on July 3, 2018 in Chester, England. Photo / Getty Images
In this frame from a police body-camera video provided by Cheshire Constabulary, Lucy Letby is arrested on July 3, 2018 in Chester, England. Photo / Getty Images
The death penalty should not be brought back in Britain because of cases such as nurse Lucy Letby, former government health secretary Jeremy Hunt has said.
Hunt, who was in office during the period of baby deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital, where the former neonatal nurse worked,said that “courts do make mistakes”, adding that her case “might be one of those occasions”.
Letby, 36, of Herefordshire, is serving 15 whole-life terms for the murder of seven infants and the attempted murder of seven others in 2015 and 2016.
Hunt had previously said that if Letby did kill the babies, she would deserve the death penalty.
But speaking on The Crime Agency podcast about her case, he said: “I wouldn’t vote to restore the death penalty … And actually, it’s for this reason.
“It’s because courts do make mistakes sometimes, and this might be one of those occasions in which that is the case.”
Dozens of experts have criticised the verdicts on Letby and claimed instead that problems in the hospital and the prematurity of the babies were probably responsible for their deaths and collapses.
Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that it would be bringing no further charges against her despite Cheshire Constabulary submitting a new file of further alleged attacks.
Her case is being considered by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
‘My gut feeling is there’s doubt’
Hunt said there had been a “spike” in deaths at other United Kingdom National Health Service hospitals caused by maternity scandals and argued that the hospital where Letby worked was not an outlier.
He said: “If you look at the rest of the NHS, we’ve got a problem with our maternity care at the moment. And it’s not just the Countess of Chester where there’s been a spike in baby deaths.
“We know that it happened in Morecambe Bay, in East Kent, in Shrewsbury, in Telford, in Nottingham. I ordered inquiries in Morecambe Bay, Shrewsbury and Telford; my successors ordered an inquiry into what’s happening in Nottingham. I think something’s going to happen in Leeds as well.
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said that the Countess of Chester Hospital was not the only site to experience a ‘spike’ in baby deaths. Photo / Getty Images
“I’m not sure the numbers suggest that the number of baby deaths was particularly higher at the Countess of Chester than some of these other hospitals where there had been scandals.”
Hunt added: “I do want the CCRC to look into this, and I want them to do it really quickly. My gut feeling is there’s doubt, but I think it’s for the CCRC to make that decision, and if they agree, there’s sufficient doubt, then this would become an unsafe conviction.”
The police and CPS have said that Letby was convicted on a raft of evidence. Letby has also been refused the right to appeal.
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