A BOMBSHELL email has appeared to cast doubt on prosecution claims that Lucy Letby was caught “red-handed”.
Letby, 35, from , is after she was convicted across two trials at Manchester Crown Court of .
Letby lost two attempts tolast year.
Now, a new email – sent on May 4 2017 to colleagues at the Countess of Chester Hospital – appears to cast significant doubts over the chronology of events.
The memo, revealed yesterday, is a significant boost to
Dr Ravi Jayaram is the only hospital staff member to have claimed to see Letby act suspiciously and
He testified that the nurse was seen standing over Baby K's cot as the infant's condition deteriorated.
Taking the stand, the doctor said , insisting the nurse had virtually been caught “red handed”.
But prior to the start of the police investigation, Dr Jayaram wrote in an email to colleagues: “At time of deterioration … Staff nurse Letby at incubator and called Dr Jayaram to inform of low saturations.”
The revelatory memo appears to contradict previous testimony, with the evidence not making it into documents handed to cops before the start of the investigation.
In the newly released email, Dr Jayaram also suggested Baby K's fragile premature condition was instead the cause of death, saying: “Baby subsequently deteriorated and eventually died, but events around this would fit with explainable events associated with extreme prematurity.”
The note sees him suggest that the baby's death was explained by issues associated with extreme prematurity.
Appearing at the 2024 trial, the doctor framed her behaviour as suspicious, telling the court: “Lucy Letby was stood next to the incubator.
She wasn't looking at me. She didn't have her hands in the incubator.
Asked by prosecutor Nick Johnson KC whether he had “any call for help from Lucy Letby?”, he replied: “No, not at all.
“I was surprised that the alarm was not going off, although my priority was (Baby K) and I didn't question it at the time.'In retrospect, I was surprised that help was not called, given (Baby K) was a 25-week gestation baby and her saturations were dropping.”
However, at the recent Thirlwall Inquiry, the doctor expressed regret at not raising the alarm over the nurse's behaviour sooner
He explained: “I lie awake thinking about this … I should have been braver.”
Letby lost two bids last year to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeal, in May for seven murders and seven attempted murders, and in which she was convicted of by a different jury at a retrial.
Lady Justice Thirlwall is due to publish in November the findings from the public inquiry into how the former nurse was able to commit her crimes.
In written submissions to the inquiry, Richard Baker KC, said families of Letby's victims were concerned that medical evidence was being presented at press conferences.
Cheshire Constabulary is continuing a review of deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neonatal units of the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Liverpool Women's Hospital during Letby's time as a nurse from 2012 to 2016.
It comes as a panel of medical experts concluded that “no criminal offences had been committed” in the case of child killer Lucy Letby.
The 14-strong panel has provided alternative causes of death.
An international panel of medical experts provided case summaries on all 17 babies who featured in the 10-month trial of Lucy Letby.
Also passed to the CCRC, which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, was a separate report from seven medics which claims the results of insulin tests on two infants, which a jury concludedpoisoned, were unreliable.
what Letby's own parents, Jonathan, 79, and Susan Letby, 65, said about the case.
Statistical misrepresentation consultant, Professor Richard Gill, is among an increasing number of supporters who believe the ex-nurse is innocent.
He and even joined protesters outside Town Hall, where the inquiry was being held, last week.
Professor Gill has previously helped free multiple medical professionals wrongfully convicted of killing patients, including and Italian nurse Daniela Poggiali.
He wrote to the couple and received a personal response from the usually fiercely private pair.
In one correspondence, seen by Flying Eze, Letby's parents reveal they “firmly believe” their daughter's convictions will be “the biggest miscarriage of justice in British “.
They thank Prof Gill for his work in support of their daughter's cause – and that they are pleased “publicopinionis beginning to sway” in her favour “at last”.
