‘The case became a witch hunt’: how ‘killer nurse’ Daniela Poggiali fought to clear her name

Italy’s ‘angel of death’ was imprisoned and demonised by the press before her convictions were overturned. Now the expert who came to her defence has turned his attention to Lucy Letby’s case

‘It was a terrible sensation when I heard the sentence: life.” It was 11 March 2016 and Daniela Poggiali had just been confirmed as Italy’s “angel of death”. Less than 18 months after she had first been arrested, in October 2014, the nurse was now the country’s most infamous killer, convicted of killing one elderly patient and suspected of dozens of other murders.

“I struggled to rationalise it,” she says, “I just thought they were grabbing a crab.” (This is a curious Italian phrase that roughly translates as doing something irrational or idiotic.)