Myra Hindley

Lucy Letby's new barrister has said there is 'absolutely' a strong case for her innocence, ahead of a new attempt to appeal the serial killer nurse's convictions. Lawyer Mark McDonald has claimed fresh medical evidence as well as expert opinion has unearthed 'flaws', which undermined the prosecution of the ex-neo natal nurse.  Letby is currently serving 15 whole life sentence, with no prospect of parole, after being convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murder of seven others at the Countess of Chester Hospital, following two separate trials.

Professor Jeremy Coid interviewed some of Britain's most warped criminals during his long career but it was at Ashworth High Security Psychiatric Hospital in Merseyside in 2003 that he met his most chilling patient.

In the early hours of August 13, 1964, Peter Allen was frantically pacing his cell at Walton Prison, in Liverpool. Every so often, the 21-year-old would break down in tears or howl in distress as the clock ticked down to 8am. On the hour, the key turned in the lock of his cell door and executioner Robert Leslie Stewart led the 6ft 2in condemned man to the scaffold and positioned him over a trapdoor, before placing a white hood over his head. As Stewart slipped a noose around his neck, Allen muttered just one word: 'Jesus.' The hangman pulled the lever, Allen dropped through the hatch and the rope did the rest. The entire process took less than ten seconds. At the very same time, a similar scene was being played out 31 miles away in Strangeways Prison, Manchester, where Allen's friend Gwynne Owen Evans, 24, was being held. Like Allen, Evans tearfully protested his innocence to the end. The crime for which the pair had been convicted was the murder of John West, a van driver for a laundry firm.