LUCY LETBY CASE: PART 20
Appeal court confusion
LUCY LETBY was convicted of the attempted murder of Baby K entirely on the evidence of consultant Dr Ravi Jayaram, who said he was surprised she had not asked for help with such a sick baby, and then walked in on her just after she had deliberately dislodged its breathing tube.
The jury agreed and the appeal court declared the conviction to be safe, despite stating: “Legitimate criticism can be made of his [Dr Jayaram’s] evidence. Although he believed that Letby had deliberately dislodged the endotracheal tube, he said nothing about it at the time, nor for many months thereafter. There was an inconsistency between his evidence and the contemporaneous records.”
On 12 April, the UnHerd website revealed an email Dr Jayaram had written to his colleagues on 4 May 2017, “stating the facts” that Letby called him to inform him of Baby K’s low saturations (see last Eye). He then came to help her. This email puts the safety of the Baby K conviction further in doubt – but not according to the Daily Mail, which on 14 April quoted “a source close to the case” saying: “The email was disclosed to the prosecution, Letby’s defence team and the judges at the court of appeal before her application to appeal her conviction in relation to Baby K. There is no material contradiction between the email and Dr Jayaram’s evidence, so it was deemed irrelevant.”