Nigel Farage bombshell as he says Lucy Letby 'is being made a scapegoat'

Nigel Farage believes Lucy Letby is a "very convenient scapegoat" after having increasing doubts over the former neonatal nurse's conviction in recent months. The Reform UK leader says he's not saying Lucy Letby "is innocent" but should be retried.

Letby, 35, from Hereford, is serving 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted across two trials at Manchester Crown Court of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others, with two attempts on one of her victims, between June 2015 and June 2016. Her trial at Manchester Crown Court ran for 10 months from October 2022 to August 2023, with a retrial ordered after a jury was unable to reach a verdict on one count of attempted murder of a baby girl. Last year she was found guilty of the attack on the newborn infant during a night shift in the Countess of Chester's neonatal unit in February 2016.

Several officials have queried the initial verdict, including Mr Farage. The Reform UK leader told The Sun it is his job "to ask questions".

He said: "And I haven't come out unequivocally on this, but I increasingly think that the argument for a retrial is very strong.

"The argument that it should be looked at again is very strong. If you look at what's happened with the neonatal units, not just in Chester, but we could look at East Kent, we could look at two or three others, where the rates of baby death have been too high.

"I just have this horrible feeling that she might have been a very convenient scapegoat".

Mr Farage "fears this could be another" miscarriage of justice in Britain, pointing out there have been 500 in the UK since 1970.

"I'm not saying Lucy Letby is innocent, I'm not saying it's all made up", said Mr Farage.

He added: "I've just increasingly over the months had doubts.

"And I think having confidence in our judicial system has been a fundamental point of what has made this country great.

His comments come just days after police passed evidence of further allegations related to baby deaths and collapses at the hospitals where Letby worked.

The number and exact nature of the potential new offences has not been made public yet and it could take weeks before a decision is made on whether to charge Letby with more offences.

The allegations are now being considered by lawyers at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after receiving the new evidence from Cheshire Police in recent days.

CPS full statement

A CPS spokesman said: "We can confirm that we have received a full file of evidence from Cheshire Constabulary asking us to consider further allegations in relation to deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women's Hospital.

"We will now carefully consider the evidence to determine whether any further criminal charges should be brought.

"As always, we will make that decision independently, based on the evidence and in line with our legal test."