Doctor who helped convict Lucy Letby lives with ‘tiny guilt’ they could have caught ‘wrong person’
The doctor who helped convict Lucy Letby said that although he still believes the nurse was behind the deaths of seven babies, he lives with a “tiny, tiny feeling of guilt” and that they may have had the “wrong person”.
Consultant paediatrician Dr John Gibbs told the new Netflix documentary: “I live with two feelings of guilt: the guilt that we’ve let the babies down, and the tiny little guilt that we’ve got the wrong person.”
“Just in case, you know, there’s guilt, a miscarriage of justice. I don’t think it’s a miscarriage of justice, but you’re worried no one saw him do it.”
The 36-year-old serial killer nurse will serve 15 life sentences after being found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven babies between June 2015 and June 2016, making two attempts on one of her victims.
The documentary includes new statements from the police and contributions from the victim’s mother; This film marks the first time a family member has spoken publicly.
Among those interviewed was Dr., who was among consultants at the Countess of Chester Hospital, who became concerned after a number of infant deaths occurred in the neonatal unit in June 2015. Gibbs is also featured.
He described Letby as a “quiet nurse” who appeared “conscientious”, but said a series of unexpected collapses and deaths raised serious concerns, and the common denominator was that Letby played a “central role” in each case.
In his statement to the Thirlwall Inquiry, which will be published this year, Dr. Gibbs said he was “embarrassed” for failing to protect the babies from the former nurse and felt he and his colleagues were “at fault” for bypassing management and not sharing their concerns with police in 2016. The hospital did not formally contact Cheshire Constabulary for almost a year.
While the documentary features the police involved in the case and a prosecution expert, it also features those who doubted his conviction, including his new lawyer Mark McDonald and a panel of global experts.
Canadian newborn care specialist Dr. Shoo Lee said in clips shown at a press conference last year that there were alternative explanations for each of Letby’s murder or attempted murder convictions.
“In all cases the death or injury was due to natural causes or simply poor medical care,” he said at the time.
Mentioning this in the documentary, Dr. Gibbs said: “Professor Lee made it very clear that no babies were deliberately harmed and that it was substandard care that led to the babies fainting and, in some cases, their deaths.
“It’s frustrating because there is a grain of truth in some of their criticisms. We were understaffed. This is generally true across most departments or wards in the NHS, but we had the same staffing pressures before 2015 and had not experienced these deaths.”
One of the victims’ mothers said that MP and Letby supporter Sir David Davis had spoken to Dr. Stating that he introduced Lee as the “star of the show”, he said: “This is not a show. There are no stars. This is no laughing matter. The audacity of a politician to introduce such a person is disgusting.”
Sarah’s baby daughter Zoe* died unexpectedly in June 2015, becoming the third baby to die in the neonatal unit in just over two weeks. Although he was born prematurely, he was making good progress when he suddenly deteriorated and was pronounced dead.
He later recognized Letby “immediately” from the news after he was charged. “When I first visited Zoe, she had a notepad in her hand, but she wasn’t actually doing anything. She was just there, watching us,” he said.
Meanwhile, Letby’s close friend Maisie, who was training alongside her to become a nurse, told the documentary that Letby was a keen nurse with a “quirky sense of humour” but initially had difficulty fitting in with other nursing staff at the hospital.
“I’m starting to think that some people went out of their way to make things difficult for Lucy. There was absolutely nothing that made them treat her that way, other than they didn’t like that she was shy and quiet,” he said.
Prison letters sent from Letby to Maisie in the months before her trial include her efforts to stay positive and her concern for her cats Tigger and Smudge. He wrote: “There are no words to describe my situation, but it is very important and special for me to know that I have your company no matter what. I have my own room and toilet. I can shower and go for a walk every day.”
He continued: “I’m trying to do my best to stay strong and positive. I’m determined to get through this, I won’t give up.”
Letby’s parents criticized the decision to include footage of the arrest at their family home.
On one occasion, she bursts into tears and wants to hug her cat, and on the second, she looks shocked as she is arrested on suspicion of murder while sitting on her bed. Her mother can be heard crying as Letby tells her: “You know I didn’t do this” and then demands to see her cat again.
In their statement to The Sunday Times, the couple said: “This issue has been discussed in previous programmes. LucyThe panorama and the news that show him being taken out in blue sweatpants and handcuffed almost every night also break our hearts.
“But this Netflix documentary is on another level. We had no idea they were using footage in our home.
“We won’t watch; if we did, he’d probably kill us.
Last month it was confirmed the former pediatric nurse would not face further charges over further deaths and collapses of babies being investigated by police.
Cheshire Constabulary last year presented evidence to prosecutors in connection with eight potential attempted murder charges and one murder charge at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
In a rare move, Cheshire Constabulary publicly opposed the decision, saying it was “not the outcome we expected throughout our investigation”.
A group of campaigners support Letby and have lodged reports with legal review body the Criminal Cases Review Commission to overturn his convictions.
The Investigation of Lucy Letby will be released globally on Netflix on Wednesday, February 4th.
