Why nine baby deaths were entirely excluded from Lucy Letby's trial

The deaths of nine additional babies were not included on the graph presented at Lucy Letby’s trial because they were not deemed unexpected or suspicious, the Mail has learnt. Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies under her care, between June 2015 and July 2016 She has consistently claimed she is an innocent woman The source said: ‘Four of the deaths were babies born with a congenital problem or birth defect, another baby was sadly asphyxiated or deprived of oxygen at birth, the remaining four died of infection and their deaths were precipitated with a period of time consistent with infection, they did not suddenly and unexpectedly collapse and die.’ The Mail understands that Letby was on duty at times when at least two of these babies were being treated on the neo-natal unit, although it is not known if she was ever their designated nurse. Professor Jane Hutton, a statistician from Warwick University and one of 24 experts who have written to ministers asking for the upcoming public inquiry into Letby’s crimes to be postponed or it’s terms of reference expanded, told The Trial podcast she was concerned about the graph because information about the other nine deaths ‘wasn’t there.’ ‘There’s no information on the remaining deaths where Lucy Letby was not present and of course you need to know how a suspicious death was defined, and whether it was clearly defined in advance,’ she said. The Mail understands that Letby was on duty at times when at least two of these babies were being treated on the neo-natal unit Letby, 34, was convicted at Manchester Crown Court last August by another jury of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neo-natal unit between June 2015 and June 2016 Tim Owen KC, a barrister experienced in cases involving miscarriages of justice, said the claims being made by statisticians were erroneous because it was clear from that Court of Appeal ruling that Letby’s case was ‘not prosecuted on the basis of statistical probability.’ ‘The graph of when Miss Letby was on duty – and the fact that she was on duty at all the times that the indicted deaths or attempted murders took place – was simply there to demonstrate that she had the opportunity to inflict harm, not that, because she’s on duty, she inflicted harm,’ he said.