May 2026: Thirlwall Inquiry report delayed to at least September 2026 · six-baby inquests relisted to 2027 · CCRC review active · Shoo Lee Panel: no medical evidence of deliberate harm.
Babies F and L showed insulin/C-peptide patterns the prosecution treated as proof of exogenous insulin.
When dextrose treatment for neonatal hypoglycaemia is administered and then weaned, rebound hypoglycaemia is a recognised phenomenon driven by transient hyperinsulinism in response to the dextrose load. C-peptide is suppressed by dextrose-driven endogenous insulin response and remains low for hours after dextrose treatment. The Panel's Joint Insulin Report sets out that the C-peptide reading taken from a dextrose-treated infant does not reflect baseline pancreatic function and cannot be used as a forensic marker without paired pre-treatment sampling that was not performed. This dextrose-rebound confounder is independent of the assay-interference and sample-handling problems separately identified.
C-peptide is suppressed by dextrose treatment. The C-peptide reading taken after dextrose was given does not reflect the baby's baseline. Without pre-treatment sampling, the insulin/C-peptide pattern cannot bear the forensic weight it was given at trial.
The insulin/C-peptide pattern was presented as diagnostic of exogenous insulin. The dextrose-treatment confounder for C-peptide was not foregrounded.
The Panel's Joint Insulin Report explicitly identifies dextrose-treatment-induced C-peptide suppression as one of multiple confounders that, in combination, place the insulin counts below the criminal-evidential threshold.