Convictions and verdicts

Verdicts by count

Each row links to the per-child page where the trial evidence, jury direction, post-conviction expert review and primary sources are laid out.

Sources: trial sentencing remarks (Mr Justice Goss, August 2023); 2024 retrial sentencing remarks; Court of Appeal record. The Court of Appeal record is the authoritative public statement of which counts resulted in conviction.

Conviction, appeal, retrial, CCRC, inquiry — what is the difference?

These terms are often used interchangeably. They are not the same. Each has its own statutory basis, its own threshold and its own remedies.

Conviction

A jury finding of guilt that stands unless overturned on appeal or referred back by the CCRC.

Direct appeal

An appeal to the Court of Appeal Criminal Division within statutory time limits. Refused at the single-judge and full-court stages in 2024.

Retrial

A re-hearing ordered when a jury cannot agree on a verdict. The 2024 retrial returned a guilty verdict on one further count of attempted murder (Child K).

CCRC review

An independent review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. The test is whether there is a real possibility that the Court of Appeal would overturn the conviction. The CCRC does not itself decide guilt or innocence.

Unsafe conviction

The legal threshold the Court of Appeal applies on a referral: would the verdict be unsafe if the new material had been available at trial?

Public inquiry

The Thirlwall Inquiry examines the institutional response. It can find facts about hospital governance and regulator conduct; it cannot itself overturn convictions.

Fresh evidence

Evidence not available at trial that the Court of Appeal admits under the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 s.23 if it appears capable of belief and could have affected the verdict.

Court findings vs disputed expert criticism

The convictions themselves are court findings — labelled on this site as Court finding and source-level 1Court/official. Statements from the February 2025 Shoo Lee International Expert Panel and other post-conviction experts are post-conviction expert claims — labelled as Post-conviction expert claim and source-level 2Expert/professional. The two are not interchangeable. Expert disagreement does not by itself overturn a verdict; it is one of the things the CCRC weighs against the real-possibility test.