Farage has ‘doubts' Lucy Letby killed babies
Nigel Farage has said he has 'doubts' over Lucy Letby's murder convictions.
The Reform UK leader is the latest high-profile politician to raise concerns over the case of the nurse who was jailed for life following the deaths of seven babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Mr Farage was responding to comments made by the former health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who held the post when Letby carried out her crimes.
Mr Hunt said this week that new evidence 'raises serious and credible questions' about her conviction.
He said that questions around the safety of her conviction were not conspiracy theories from 'far-flung reaches of the internet' and said they needed addressing 'as a matter of urgency'.
Speaking on GB News, Mr Farage said that he too was starting to have 'doubts' about the case.
'I have a feeling, actually, Jeremy Hunt might be right about the Lucy Letby case. I'm just beginning to get more and more doubts about that issue,' he said.
Letby, 35, from Herefordshire, was convicted for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven others while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016.
After she was sentenced to 15 life terms in prison, the Thirlwall Inquiry was launched to discover how she was able to commit the crimes.
A number of experts have since challenged the way evidence was presented to the jury during her trial, and a panel of world-leading experts have reviewed the medical notes and concluded that there were no malicious acts.
Appearing at the inquiry earlier this year, Mr Hunt apologised to the families of Letby's victims and said her crimes had been committed 'on [his] watch'.
Letby's case is being considered by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which looks into potential miscarriages of justice, although police and the Crown Prosecution Service insist she was fairly convicted.
The CCRC is considering evidence that poor medical care and natural causes were the reasons for the babies' deaths and collapses.
In April, more than 400 healthcare workers, including about 200 nurses, called for a review of Letby's case. They claimed her 'unsafe' conviction had triggered a 'climate of fear' in the NHS and that they have been 'gagged' and prevented from speaking out on her behalf by their trusts.
In 2024, Letby lost two bids to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeal – in May for seven murders and seven attempted murders, and in October for the attempted murder of a baby girl, of which she was convicted by a different jury at a retrial.
Cheshire Constabulary is continuing a review of deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neonatal units of the Countess of Chester and Liverpool Women's Hospital during Letby's time as a nurse from 2012 to 2016.
A separate investigation by the force into allegations of corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter at the Countess of Chester Hospital is continuing.
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