Lucy Letby activist who argues baby killer is innocent gives talk at university

17 February 2024 , 22:03

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Serial killer Lucy Letby (Image: PA)

A professor who campaigns to free Lucy Letby was allowed to lecture students near the hospital where she murdered babies.

Academic Richard Gill claims prosecution evidence was bogus and trolls an NHS doctor who helped secure the serial killer’s conviction. But Gill’s alarming web posts did not deter Liverpool University from inviting him to lecture.

It is 17 miles from the Countess of Chester Hospital, where Letby was a nurse. Gill, 72, a professor of statistics, travelled from his home in Holland for the class at the department of mathematical scientists.

Although he did not mention the Letby case during his talk last Wednesday, he later boasted online he had also visited Chester, and had given “an informal talk on the Letby case”. Letby, 34, was jailed for life in August after a 10-month trial for murdering seven tots and attempting to kill six.

Academic Richard Gill

Gill believes those who believe the verdicts have “low IQs” and “an agenda”. Last year a judge warned Gill of serious consequences, calling his web rants a serious contempt of court.

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Gill is a fan of several conspiracy theorists. He described a book claiming Letby’s innocence as “fantastic”. He was a guest on a podcast hosted by Kate Shemiran, an anti-vaxxer and nurse struck off for misconduct.

The university said: “Mr Gill was a guest speaker for a group of researchers due to his membership of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. His talk was a statistical view on the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics.”

The professor said: “I was visiting the university for some scientific business connected to an international learned society. I gave a lecture in the maths department about my work on quantum entanglement

Richard Gill (centre) leaving the University of Liverpool (Colin McPherson)

“I gave a private talk about Lucia de Berk and Lucy Letby - similarities and differences. It was over a long evening meal, participants from the maths department, and was more of a debate and discussion than a lecture.

“Both talk and dinner were very well attended and very well received, I think. We discussed academic freedom, and how current reporting restrictions are stifling scientific discussion about the scientific issues in the Lucy Letby case. And many more things besides.

“While in Liverpool I also visited Chester, walked all the way round the city walls, also had long talks with several individuals connected to Lucy Letby and Countess of Chester hospital, which I visited too.”

Saskia Rowlands