Child G — deterioration expected at 23 weeks
Prosecution claim
Letby was convicted on two counts of attempted murder of Child G, whom the Crown alleged she had over-fed with excessive milk via nasogastric tube, causing aspiration and collapse.
Counter-evidence
Child G was born at approximately 23 weeks — at the absolute edge of viability. The Panel and independent paediatricians note that infants of this gestation commonly suffer severe deteriorations including aspiration, intraventricular haemorrhage, and necrotising enterocolitis without any deliberate act. The volumes of feed the jury was told were abnormal fall within commonly observed ranges for the clinical context. The severe long-term disability that Child G suffered is itself the expected outcome of a 23-week gestation complicated by these events.
Serious deterioration in a 23-week infant is entirely expected. No independent evidence established a deliberate act.
What the jury heard
Feed volumes were described as excessive and deliberate. The long-term disability of Child G was presented as the consequence of those feeds.
What the Panel says
At 23 weeks, severe deterioration — including aspiration, NEC, IVH — is the expected clinical trajectory. Feed volumes were within the range seen in comparable cases. Disability is the expected outcome of prematurity, not of alleged wrongdoing.
What independent experts add
- Neonatologists emphasise that at 23 weeks, survival is precarious and disability rates are high even with perfect care.
- Aspiration pneumonia is a common cause of collapse at this gestation.