4 days Ago By [email protected] (Antony Clements-Thrower, Billy Gaddi)
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info B aby killer Lucy Letby has accumulated a huge legal bill of over £90,000 this year as she continues to fight her sentence, it has been revealed.
The 34-year-old is currently serving 15 whole-life orders for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven others while working as a neo-natal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital. She is currently in HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey, which caters for Category A women prisoners, and has always maintained her innocence, reports the Mirror . It has now been revealed that so far this year she has run up a legal aid bill of £91,263, while another £36,459 was spent on a barrister fighting her appeal - with a total bill of around £1.
8million. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson told the Sun: “Where criminal proceedings are ongoing, are subject to sentencing or have only recently concluded, or if there is an appeal, further claims may continue to be made until the billing process has been completed by all the lawyers involved. "The billing process for publicly funded representation often takes several months to be finalised to allow for claims to be drawn up, submitted, considered, paid, and for any appeals against any assessments to be heard.
The above figures are therefore accurate as at the time of writing but are subject to change." Earlier this week Letby’s legal team alleged that there is new evidence which "significantly undermines" her convictions . At a press conference on Monday, barrister Mark McDonald said the defence team "will immediately seek permission from the Court of Appeal to take the exceptional, but necessary, decision to apply to reopen the Appeal of Lucy Letby and immediately review all her convictions".
Mr McDonald said an expert witness "has now changed his mind" on the cause of death of three of the babies . The lawyer said: "The primary ground of appeal at the previous hearings related to the admissibility before the jury of the evidence of the lead prosecution expert Dr Dewi Evans. The defence argued twice at trial that the evidence of Dr Evans should be disregarded.
This was refused by the trial judge. "The defence’s main ground of appeal in the Court of Appeal was the reliability of Dr Evans. The appeal was refused.
Remarkably, Dr Evans has now changed his mind on the cause of death of three of the babies: Baby C, Baby I and Baby P*. "Dr Evans had said to the jury Lucy Letby had injected air down a nasal gastric tube and this had led to the death of the three babies. This was repeated to the Court of Appeal who may have now been misled when they ruled on the application for leave against the convictions.
"Dr Evans has also said that he has revised his opinion in relation to Baby C and has written a new report, which he has given to the police. Despite numerous requests, the prosecution has yet to give this report to the defence. The defence will argue Dr Evans is not a reliable expert, and all the convictions are not safe.
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