I have not changed my mind over Letby's guilt, insists expert witness

A doctor yesterday said claims that he had changed his mind over the causes of death for three of Lucy Letby's victims were "unsubstantiated" and "inaccurate".

Dewi Evans, a retired consultant paediatrician, was responding to the assertions of Letby's barrister Mark McDonald, who had said the prosecution's lead medical witness had altered his views on how the infants had died at the Countess of Chester hospital's neonatal unit.

McDonald told reporters he was immediately seeking permission from the court of appeal to look again at her case on the grounds that Evans was "not a reliable expert" and the former nurse's convictions for murder and attempted murder were unsafe.

But Evans said yesterday: "Mr Mark McDonald's observations regarding my evidence are unsubstantiated, unfounded, inaccurate.

"His method of presenting his information reflects clear prejudice and bias. I find his style most unedifying, most unprofessional.

"It's highly disrespectful to the families of babies murdered and harmed by Lucy Letby."

Letby, 34, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life prison sentences after she was convicted at Manchester crown court of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016.