A justice campaign for Lucy Letby has started, find out who is behind it and why

It took 8 years for Lucy Letby to be arrested, she’s been in custody since November 2020, and on Monday 21 August 2023 she was finally sentenced to a ‘whole life order’ for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six more.

This means that she will die in prison, and according to the BBC, she is only one of four female criminals in British history to have no hope of parole. Tom Nicholson, a criminal barrister, told the BBC that prisoners with Letby’s sentence face ‘maximum security conditions, visiting restrictions and restrictions on how they operate in prison’.

However, there are still many questions surrounding her case, including whether or not there could be an appeal.

Who is campaigning for Lucy Letby?

A campaign to raise money for Letby has been created by people who feel her case 'may represent the greatest miscarriage of justice the UK has ever witnessed'. The Telegraph reports that the project leader, Sarrita Adams, is a scientific consultant for biotech startups in California.

This idea may sound crazy, but Adams says their goal is ‘to ensure that scientific evidence is used responsibly in the criminal justice system'. The campaign is called Science on trial, and its site is up and running - you can find it here. The homepage shows floating embers across a black background and, up until a few hours ago, there was an oddly vibrant pink button top-right that read ‘Donate - Coming Soon’. Their slogan? ‘Bringing Science to those who need it most’.

The ‘Case’ tab describes Letby’s case, but the maths doesn’t add up:

On Friday 18th August, 2023, at Manchester Crown Court, Lucy Letby was convicted of 14 crimes; 7 murders and 7 attempted murders. Two of the attempted murder charges were determined to be not guilty, and the remaining 6 attempted murder charges were undecided.

Out of seven attempted murders, how can two be ‘not guilty’ and six be ‘undecided’... we’re no scientists, but surely that would mean 8 attempted murders.

Read more: British man who killed his fatally ill wife in Cyprus avoids murder conviction

Why do they think Letby deserves a new trial?

The site claims that ‘the prosecution weaponised evidence against Lucy’, but its reasoning seems confused. It cites several examples where Lucy wrote letters or cards to the families of the deceased babies and notes to herself which varied from ‘I AM EVIL I DID THIS’ to ‘I haven’t done anything wrong’.

However, as Science on trial goes on to remark, the judge presiding over Letby’s case called this evidence ‘almost wholly, but entirely, circumstantial’. So why do they bring it up?

Controversial expert witness

Herald Wales states that Dr Dewi Evans, who was the medical expert for the trail, ‘ identified 15 instances that defied conventional explanations. These babies displayed telltale signs of harm, ranging from symptoms of air embolism—suggesting the injection of air into their circulatory systems—to signs of milk or milk-and-air injections directly into their stomachs, leading to life-threatening breathing difficulties.’

Science on trial suggests that Dr Evans is out-of-date, claiming he ‘determined that the infants died due to air embolism by referring to a 1989 research paper’. The site adds that Dr Evans carried out his research with the help of consultants who were present on the ward ‘at the time of death’ and who therefore ‘should have been treated as suspects.’

Sarrita Adams’ credibility

The Telegraph has done some digging on Adams, and found that, though the site's founder describes herself as ‘a scientist with rare expertise in rare paediatric diseases’ , Adams has not worked as a scientist since obtaining her PhD in biochemistry from Cambridge University.

It turns out that she has only ever published two pieces of research, according to PubMed database of biochemical research, and the last was in 2013.

Read more:

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Sources used:

Herald Wales:How Dr. Dewi Evans helped secure justice in nurse Letby’s chilling baby murders

The Telegraph: Lucy Letby fundraising campaign launched

BBC: Lucy Letby: What happens next with inquiry, prison and police review

scienceontrial.com