Lucy Letby’s legal team face a momentous task if they want her freedom

Although I am sure it is not entirely without precedent, the press conference called by her barrister Mark McDonald to announce that Lucy Letby would be immediately asking the Court of Appeal to reopen her case, was highly unusual, to say the least. open image in gallery Mark McDonald is the new barrister representing Lucy Letby It was apparent, for instance, that statistics had played a minimal role in her conviction and are therefore unlikely to be of much relevance to any further appeal or review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. open image in gallery Nurse Benjamin Geen has been convicted of two murders and 15 counts of grievous bodily harm Mark McDonald established the London Innocence Project, which supported Geen’s case when he later applied to the CCRC, again advancing statistical arguments, among other points. Perhaps McDonald was hoping to speed things up for Letby when he announced at the press conference that he was going to apply immediately and directly to the Court of Appeal to reopen her case, in the light of what he said was the changed position of Dr Dewi Evans, the Crown’s main witness on three of the baby cases.