15 May 2024 , 02:31
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A Conservative former minister has criticised the fact an article about child serial killer Lucy Letby is not available to read in the UK, as he argued this is "in defiance of open justice".
The article published in the New Yorker magazine questioned the evidence used in the trial which convicted Letby of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others. Sir David Davis called on the Government to review the court order which blocks those in the UK from accessing the article.
The article is understood to have been blocked to view in the UK because it names witnesses in the case, which would breach a UK court anonymity order'.
The Haltemprice and Howden MP told the Commons: "Yesterday the New Yorker magazine published a 13,000-word inquiry into the Lucy Letby trial.
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In August last year, Letby, of Hereford, was convicted of the murders which took place at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit (Cheshire Constabulary via Getty Images)
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk replied: "Court orders must be obeyed and court orders can be displaced by someone applying to court for them to be removed." (PA)"That article was blocked from publication on the UK internet, I understand because of a court order. Now, I'm sure that court order was well intended but it seems to me in defiance of open justice. Will the Lord Chancellor look into this matter and report back to the House?"
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk replied: "Court orders must be obeyed and court orders can be displaced by someone applying to court for them to be removed. So that will need to take place in the normal course of events. "I will just simply make a point on the Lucy Letby case - that jury's verdict must be respected. If there are grounds for an appeal, that should take place in the normal way."
In August last year, Letby, of Hereford, was convicted of the murders which took place at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit, where she worked as a nurse, between June 2015 and June 2016. The 34-year-old has submitted a bid to challenge her convictions at the Court of Appeal.
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Lucy Letby is arrested on July 3, 2018 in Chester, England (Getty Images)If judges decline to give the go-ahead for the challenge, it will mark the end of the appeal process for Letby. The jury in Letby's trial at Manchester Crown Court was unable to reach verdicts on six counts of attempted murder in relation to five children.
She will face a retrial at the same court in June on a single count that she attempted to murder a baby girl, known as Child K, in February 2016.
A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of the surviving and dead children who were the subject of the allegations.