‘Copied from…’ a former Science on Trial post

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This is written by another professional, a Psychiatrist.

Hi Lucy,

I’m a UK Psychiatrist and I’m totally shocked at the really terrible circumstantial nonsense which was used to convict you. Myself and an increasing number of people believe you are innocent and the victim of a miscarriage of justice and are happy to help as best we can. I hope that you can be freed asap.

He kindly answers a request for any more observations:

Hi Gill,

1. I think that the discussion around her diaries should not even have made court. They offer no incriminating evidence whatsoever and are ramblings of someone clearly in a distressed frame of mind at that given moment in time (unsurprising given the timing).

Even if one reads into them feelings of guilt, they can be explained as part of recognised stages of grief following loss of the baby’s.

One can see how they appeal to a lay mentality though looking for confirmation bias.

Given the Lucia de Berk case where diary notes were found later to be irrelevant and miscarriage of justice was identified I find it incredible that they were taken seriously at all in court.

2) The emphasis on the handover notes in her bedroom were also a ridiculous red herring. Half the colleagues I’ve met over the years have confidential papers, handover sheets etc lying around at home. It’s not ideal but pretty much the reality. It has nothing to do with trophies etc. especially as there were handover sheets etc relating to other random patients I understand.

3) Same with looking up families on Facebook. I know other colleagues I have met have do this. It’s extremely common. But you have to have worked in the NHS for a while to know this. It’s part of taking an interest in the case for some. Though public may think it’s odd it is very common. Obviously the public which is fascinated with “true crime” or Police clutching at straws to build a case looks out for a sinister interest.

4) I also see LL writing a sympathy card and looking up family members online as her way of dealing with the grief of babies dying. It fits with the profile of a normal Nurse.

In my career I’ve known lots of Nurses, social workers and staff from care homes who have been naturally quite affected by dying patients and gone to funerals of patients and written cards.

5) I’ve seen a few videos of Psychologists speculating as to whether LL has a personality disorder or psychopathy traits, even using how her bedroom looked as “evidence”. They acknowledge that she had no evidence of this but then say she might still be one because she hid it so well. Of course this is a nonsense argument and haven’t got a clue what they are talking about. From what I have read she appears totally normal in terms of her personality etc.

6) Reading the lawhealthandtech substack on the individual babies who LL is accused of murdering – sepsis appears to be a much more plausible explanation given how the clinical history reads to me at least and with what I already know as well as what I have learnt online about it since taking an interest.

It is clear that the doctors in the trial downplayed the possibility of this but the biochem evidence and observation notes tell a different story. Plus we know the unit was outdated and likely had sewage contamination at one point.

Many doctors still don’t identify and treat sepsis quick enough in adults so I can imagine it is poor in neonates too. It can progress rapidly and become life threatening which I doubt the Police, Judge or Jury had any knowledge or experience of. I think it’s human nature for the doctors to try and cover themselves and paint ourselves in the best possible light but it’s totally inexcusable when someone is at risk of going to prison in this case for life. The insulin saga also seems to have more holes the more I read about it both on lawhealthandtech substack and here on this website in the blog section.

7) I can’t understand how such a serious trial could have gone ahead without LL having the benefit of an experienced and mentally sharp medical defence expert. Just like before the trial it seems like she was ganged up upon (police and colleagues).

8) The unit was confirmed to be understaffed and mismanaged e.g. tertiary referral delays as in the November 2016 report, but the relevance of this seems to be just brushed aside in court and in the media. Same with the change to level 2 coinciding with the uptick in deaths (no one seems to be aware of this). Or the cherry picking of the deaths to match Nurse rotas. It’s really shocking.

9) The fact that Dr Evans was not on the GMC register I find appalling. I’m sure my doctors colleagues would never guess this was the case. It totally discredits him and I applied for a scienceontrial project just now to try and make a group to publicise this more widely. His expertise on air embolus appears absent and his theories read like a complete fantasy.

10) The Consultants working with LL clearly ganged up on her. I suspect it was out of a combination of simply wishing to protect their own careers, a human instinct to have an “answer”, and insufficient expertise in identifying and protecting against neonatal sepsis during an outbreak all directed onto a convenient scapegoat. The management clearly suspected it was simply a staffing and tertiary referral deficiencies as outlined in the 2016 report, but in the end why would they hoist their own petard and argue that it was their own fault to not recruit more doctors and provide a fit for purpose unit ?(they would probably say they wanted to but had insufficient money from govt etc etc). So in the end it was a perfect storm for bullying and finding a scapegoat that deflects all blame away until the unit can be quietly downgraded and replaced, buying more time for recruitment.

11) LL needs to be released asap and the convictions quashed by a Judge. Miscarriage of Justice from what I have gathered so far.

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