Dr Felicity Gerry KC on Sky News regarding the Lucy Letby “refusal”

Felicity Gerry KC was interviewed on Sky News today about the absence of Lucy Letby in Court. Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering children in her care as a neonatal nurse. She was said to have refused to attend her sentencing hearing today, although she was in the cells at Manchester Crown Court. Members of the grieving families and the public and some politicians had suggested she should be forced to attend. Felicity explained that, however serious the crimes before the court, the system must maintain humanity: This includes restorative justice processes to enable victim personal statements to be given. It also means we should not be using sentencing hearings for denunciation or retribution and this includes not forcing attendance. Most people do attend their sentences but there are a range of reasons why a few do not. Young people, for example, sometimes refuse because they will lose their ‘home’ and their stability if they attend court and are sent back to a different prison. To allow restorative justice processes develop, we can consider removing draconian mandatory penalties so that accused persons can engage more in the outcome with more detailed plea hearing as in Australia but shackling / dragging people into court is not the solution. We don’t know the real reasons for Lucy Letby’s absence but, Felicity said rather than focus on her we should be thinking about how our criminal justice system can be improved. Lucy Letby has been given a whole-life sentence. The 33-year-old was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six other infants at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

TikTok double murder trial update

Adam Kane KC acted for Mohammed Patel, the only defendant acquitted of all murder and manslaughter charges in the TikTok double murder trial. Social media influencer Mahek Bukhari and 6 others were convicted after a 12 week retrial, of double homicides involving a blackmailer threatening to expose his affair with her mother. Mr Patel, instructing Ibrahim Hussain at Londinium solicitors, ran a cut-throat defence against those convicted. Media Links below https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/tiktok-influencer-mahek-bukhari-murder-b2375263.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/04/tiktok-influencer-mother-guilty-killing-two-men/ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/04/ex-tiktok-influencer-mother-guilty-murder-leicester-mahek-ansreen-bukhari-saqib-hussain-mohammed-hashim-ijazuddin https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/04/ansreen-mahek-bukhari-how-tiktok-fame-swept-up-mother-who-killed-lover-leicester https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tiktok-star-mahek-bukhari-killed-men-to-hide-her-mothers-affair-9vn9g6r7b https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-65342628 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/24/mahek-bukhari-tiktok-influencer-murder-trial-999-call/ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/24/tiktok-influencer-mahek-bukhari-court-alleged-murder-plot https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tiktok-star-murdered-mums-lover-29796786 https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/murder-accused-takes-blame-fatal-7838241 https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/tiktok-mahek-bukhari-live-murder-7791276 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-63404845 https://news.sky.com/story/tiktok-influencer-and-mother-murdered-two-men-in-car-crash-over-sex-tape-blackmail-court-hears-12731865 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11365253/Cousins-chased-TikTok-influencer-died-car-split-two-100mph-crash.html

Libertas Barristers’ London Mock Inquest Training For International Emergency Medics

Last month, Ms Chaynee Hodgetts and Mr Darren Snow set up new and original practical mock inquest simulation training with QMUL and Blizard Institute Centre for Trauma Sciences. Held at the Education Centre of the Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, London, it was attended by emergency medics from the UK and all over the world. Chaynee and Darren ran the mock inquest simulation teaching and training, assisted by a team of instructors in medicine, psychology, and human factors, to help clinical practitioners on the programme to understand their rights and responsibilities in medical inquest settings. The mock inquest training formed part of the Emergency & Resuscitation Summer School, led by Dr Libby Thomas at QMUL (itself part of the QMUL MSc Emergency & Resuscitation Medicine, led by Professor Tim Harris, and on which Chaynee is an Honorary Lecturer). Joe Brittan & Kai Hayes During Summer School, Chaynee and Darren led the training, in which Mr Joseph Brittan (Bar Course graduate) and Mr Kai Hayes (Year 1 LLB Undergraduate) – both of whom have undertaken mini-pupillages at Libertas with Ms Hodgetts – played the roles of Counsel for the NHS Trust and the family respectively. Over the course of two days of mock hearings, they put the team of emergency doctors, nurses, and paramedics to the test in examination  and questioning during the mock inquest simulation scenario. As Honorary Lecturer in Emergency Medical Law at QMUL and the Blizard Institute, Chaynee worked as part of the Faculty team for the full week of Summer School – and, when not leading mock court, assisted with teaching on the pre-hospital simulation scenarios and medical masterclasses. In addition to her work at QMUL, Chaynee is also Honorary Lecturer in Criminal Law, and Honorary Lecturer in Medicine (Medical Law), at Bangor University. With Libertas, her principal practice areas are criminal defence and inquests (including medical and mental health inquests). Outside of her legal practice, she has a keen interest in pre-hospital care and pre-hospital emergency medicine (PHEM). Having successfully completed the British Association for Immediate Care (BASICS) Pre-Hospital Emergency Care (PHEC) Course, she is also a volunteer First Responder with GoodSAM for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, regularly responding at scene to life-threatening incidents prior to the arrival of the London Ambulance Service. Mr Darren Snow came to the Bar from an initial career in the City, working for international insurers and Lloyds – and is a very experienced advocate in healthcare-related work, acting for doctors, nurses, midwives and paramedics. In the last few years, much of Darren’s work has been defending nurses and midwives before the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) in misconduct and health cases. He has been instructed in a wide range of cases, including some of the most serious allegations of misconduct re patient death in clinical, mental health and midwifery practice, and allegations of assault against patients. The QMUL MSc in Emergency & Resuscitation Medicine is a unique online global course for doctors, nurses, paramedics and physician associates with expertise in emergency and resuscitation medicine – with course content including pre-hospital emergency medicine (PHEM), emergency medicine, trauma surgery and critical care, diagnosis, pathophysiology, resuscitation and toxicology, research methodology, legislation and ethics – and runs its practical clinical Summer School in London annually. More information about the QMUL & Blizard Institute MSc in Emergency & Resuscitation Medicine can be found here. Darren Snow guiding students through the course, with Chaynee taking the photo.