I was wrong about baby death, says key prosecution witness in Lucy Letby trial

Doctor says Baby C was not killed by injection of air into stomach, but insists jailed nurse did murder him

A key medical witness in the Lucy Letby trial has said he has changed his mind about how one of the babies was killed.
Dr Dewi Evans said he had amended his opinion about the death of Baby C, who the prosecution claimed was murdered with an injection of air into his stomach.
Baby C was one of seven babies whom Letby was convicted of killing at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015.
During the trial, Dr Evans said he thought a bubble of air had caused the baby boy’s stomach to balloon, “splintering his diaphragm” and crushing his lungs so that he could no longer breathe.
He was initially suspicious about the death because an X-ray showed the baby had an unusual amount of air in his stomach, which could have been caused by the deliberate pumping of air into his feeding tube.
However a BBC File on 4 investigation – broadcast on Tuesday – found that Letby was not working at the hospital when the X-ray was taken.
Dr Evans told The Telegraph he no longer believed air injected into the stomach was the cause of the death.
“The stomach bubble was not responsible for his death,” he said. “Probably destabilised him though. His demise occurred the following day, around midnight, and due to air in the bloodstream.
“Letby was there. I amended my opinion after hearing the evidence from the local nurses and doctors. Baby C was always the most difficult from a clinical point of view. So I understand the confusion.”
Dr Evans has not changed his view that Letby was responsible for the death of Baby C, only how she murdered the infant.
His comments come amid ongoing concern about how the evidence in the case against Letby was presented to the jury.
At Letby’s trial, Nicholas Johnson KC, prosecuting, said that Baby C had been killed “by air inserted into his stomach via the nasogastric tube, not into his bloodstream”.
In an interview for File on 4, Dr Evans said the “biggest concern was that the X-ray showed a huge great bubble in the stomach and far more gas than I would expect”
However, it then emerged that the X-ray had been taken on June 12 2015, when Letby was not working, and had not been in the hospital for two days.
Baby C collapsed and died two days later, when Letby was working on the night shift. The prosecution suggested that the baby had been killed by another injection of air into his stomach.
During the trial, Ben Myers KC, defending Letby, pointed out she had not been on shift when the X-ray was taken. 
But in summing up, Mr Justice Goss did not remind the jury that Letby had not been present on that date. He said the radiologists’ evidence showed the baby’s stomach “was full of gas”, which could have been the result of deliberate administration of air.
Letby is intending to apply to the Criminal Cases Review Commission to have the case reopened.
Speaking about the new suggestion that Baby C was actually killed by air in his bloodstream, Mark McDonald, her new barrister, said: “It’s remarkable that out of nowhere we have got this new hypothesis. This was never there beforehand, it just came out of thin blue air.
“There is no evidence of anyone seeing it happen, no evidence from a diagnostic perspective and no evidence in relation to what line the air is supposed to have gone through.
“We now have expert evidence to say in fact this baby was very poorly as the result of a bowel obstruction and needed specialist attention which it did not receive, and likely surgery to save its life, but this did not happen.”
File on Four also asked five senior clinicians to review Baby C’s medical notes that were made available during the trial, and all thought the child should have been in a higher level unit.
Prof Colin Morely, a retired professor of neonatology from the University of Cambridge, told the BBC he believed Baby C had died from natural causes.
Letby was convicted of the murders of seven infants and the attempted murders of seven others and is serving 15 whole-life terms in prison.
However, since the verdicts many scientists, statisticians and clinicians have come forward to challenge the evidence that was presented to the jury.
James Phillips, a former government science adviser for Boris Johnson, who has criticised the trial, said: “Pivotal evidence for one of the Lucy Letby murder convictions is deeply flawed, as she appears to have never met the baby at the time it was obtained.
“She had never been on shift. This, quite obviously, calls into very serious question whether the conviction it underpins is safe.
“Serious doubts have emerged about whether there was ever a crime at all.”
The Telegraph has contacted the CPS for comment.