Lucy Letby: Prosecution experts made evidence fit theory, jury told

Prosecution experts have "chopped and changed" to make evidence "fit" a theory about baby deaths at a neonatal unit where nurse Lucy Letby worked, her barrister has told her trial.

Ben Myers KC said "extraordinary contortions" had been used to suggest babies at Countess of Chester Hospital were injected with air.

Ms Letby is charged with murdering seven babies and attempting to kill 10 others between 2015 and 2016.

The 33-year-old denies all the charges.

Continuing his closing speech for a second day, Mr Myers told Manchester Crown Court the "overarching theory of air embolus" was at the "heart" of this case.

He said the prosecution's experts, Dr Dewi Evans and Dr Sandie Bohin, had relied principally on a 1989 medical paper to form their view on the rare phenomenon.

The paper stated there had been 53 cases recorded worldwide but Mr Myers said only one of them saw the kind of rash seen on a baby's body, such as has been described in the trial.

The barrister described the research paper as "meagre" and said the symptoms described had "not been applied consistently across the cases under consideration in this trial".

"They have chopped and changed them as much as required to fit the available evidence," he said.

He pointed to the case of Child B, who - as with all the children in the case - cannot be named for legal reasons, as an example.

The prosecution have said the baby girl collapsed as a result of an injection of air by Ms Letby in June 2015 and the medical notes described her as "pink and active" before her collapse.

Mr Myers said this was used in the witness box by Dr Evans to suggest signs of air embolism, which he said was a "ridiculous point" and added that pink and active was a well established description of a newborn.

The barrister said the scientific evidence "falls short" on air embolus and was "so poor" that it could not be used to back up the allegations.

He also questioned whether some of the patches or rashes purportedly witnessed on the babies were actually present at the time.

In the case of Child A, Child B's twin brother, Mr Myers noted that the supposed skin discolourations were not mentioned in contemporaneous notes and were not mentioned to the coroner after his death.

Mr Myers said what did happen in the case of Child A was "suboptimal care, inadequate staffing and a collapse and death in front of everyone and when Ms Letby had been there for 20 or so minutes".

"There's no suggestion in evidence she did anything physically to [Child A] at all," he said.

Mr Myers went on to remind the jury that some time after 17:00 on 8 June 2015, Dr David Harkness inserted a long line into Child A, which was intended to deliver fluids.

He said medical notes stated the line should be "pulled back" as it was "not properly sited".

"The line was too close to the heart," he said.

"It was left there when it should have been moved, fluids were put down it and [Child A] went into fatal collapse 20 minutes after that."

He said the prosecution had "bowled out" allegations without any support in fact and had been "lumping everything together and saying it must be [Ms Letby] because she's there".

The trial continues.

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