Lucy Letby press conference

[Viviennemary]

There is a press conference going on now trying to get Lucy Letby's conviction overturned. From what I read the guilty verdict was sound. All those ill babies dying when she was alone with them. Just a coincidence? Already been refused an appeal.

The tragedy is that so many babies died because, as was stated yesterday, 'across all 17 cases, there was a combination of babies being “in the wrong place, delivered in the wrong place, delayed diagnosis and inappropriate or absent treatment”'.

When their parents were told they were murdered, it compounded their loss. Rather than acknowledge that the care was substandard, they looked for other reasons and settled on Letby because of the shift patterns. They failed to include all babies who had died in the NICU and if they had included then they would have seen that it wasn't a statistical anomaly that Letby was on duty.

They had sacked experienced NICU nurses because they cost money. There weren't appropriate doctors around and each nurse had more patients than was safe. And the ward was dirty because of the sewage leaks.

Very premature babies die. My DSC was on a ward when barely viable. Two other babies at the same gestation died. My DSC suffered life-threatening conditions more than once and suffers from that to this day.

This doesn't make Letby a murderer. A terrible miscarriage of justice has occurred and Letby has suffered and the parents have suffered too.

I hope that the parents can gain some solace by knowing their children weren't murdered. I hope Letby can be released and live some kind of normal life.

@chouxchoux and how much is being paid to these "experts"? It's absolutely disgusting that she is being allowed to traumatise these families again. She admitted she did it.

Is adequate care for women with pregnancy complications and premature deliveries worth taxpayer money?

Is adequate care of premature babies and neonates worth taxpayer money?

If the care of the mothers and babies had been of an acceptable standard, it is possible that some of the babies would still be alive. Instead, it's looking like it was the system that killed them.

Not a single penny. They all worked pro-bono.

Can I suggest you do a bit of reading/research?

She didn't admit anything. She wrote out her fears as suggested by her therapist.

She admitted that she killed them. She said it was her fault. She was there for all these deaths.

Could you look these parents in the eyes and say you think their children's killer should be freed, because some bloke from America says so?

They aren't being paid according to reports. They are acting out of concern that LL has been wrongly convicted and that there is a cover-up happening at a hospital in terms of negligence and poor practice.

@FlowerUser is correct. The note is not admitting it

What else does "I did this" mean?

These were not written down in a notebook in a way that would suggest they were the product of therapy. They were scrawled messages. She took documents home. She killed babies and some people want her freed, for what reason?

Could you look these parents in the eyes and say you think their children's killer should be freed, because some bloke from America says so?

Dr Lee is not just "some bloke" he is a preeminent paediatrician who is saying that his research has been misrepresented in the trial. Obviously he couldn't fail to come forward to put things right. Imagine if your research had been used to lock someone up for life but you believed it had been misrepresented. Would you not come forward?

The reason is there is no evidence the babies were actually murdered. It's the people responsible for the hospital being negligent and dirty that should be in prison

If it was gross negligence manslaughter that would have been shown at the trial.

That’s correct. Dr Lee confirmed in the press conference that nobody received any money, gifts in kind or any other form of payment. He said even his travel expenses to get to the PC were self-funded.

He's Canadian by naturalisation, Singapore born.

The parents have no interest in what I (or you) think.

'I did this' could mean
'I know I should have been more forceful that the doctor listen to me'
'I should have ignored advice I was given and followed my training' '
'I should have told the parents to demand a second opinion'
'I should have refused to work in this hospital and contributed to the situation'
'I should have whistleblown'
We don't know what she meant by it but we cannot be sure it was a confession of murder.

For someone that seems to know very little about the details of anything relating to this case, how can ypu be so sure she killed the babies?

She was found guilty. That means factually and legally, she murdered them. Her appeals have been denied. She is guilty.

It's a touch gross the way some posters are treating the parents as an argumentative device. We have no idea what any of them think on this issue, nor are we entitled to that information, and they're not a hivemind.

@MotionIntheOcean it is not gross for me, as a woman whose baby is currently on SCBU, to be angry that people think this woman should be let out of prison.

As a woman who also had a baby in SCBU, that doesn't entitle any of us to try and speak for the bereaved parents. We don't know what they think, nor is there any reason why we ought to, nor should anyone expect that they all hold the same views.

@MotionIntheOcean their babies were murdered. You want them to go through the trauma of that again, because this sick woman wants to be in the public eye again for a trial?

I want you not to decide you know what they want, what would be best for them and what would constitute the least trauma for them. If you want to argue against any further action being taken on this case, you can do that without commandeering people you don't speak for.

I'm always baffled at how trusting the general public is

Comments like "If she's been convicted, she must have done it" and "if the hospital was negligent, this would have been uncovered at trial".

You guys have FAR too much faith in the system. Quite worrying.

You do know that miscarriages of justice happen don't you? People locked up for 20+ years for crimes that they haven't committed?

If she didn't do it, don't you think the parents deserve to know the truth rather than being lied to? And if the babies died due to poor care, isn't this in the best interests of everyone to be addressed rather than brushed under the carpet and carry on happening?

It's even worse than that, there are people who think the mere existence of charges mean someone must be guilty. And some of them find their way onto juries.