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.
Dr Dewi Evans provided causation opinions on most counts. The Crown presented him as the neonatal expert whose reading of skin signs, radiological findings and clinical patterns established the mechanism of harm.
Dr Evans had not worked in routine neonatal intensive care for over a decade at the time of trial. He reportedly approached Cheshire Police offering his services before being instructed. In 2023 a separate family-court judgment described an unrelated Evans expert report as 'worthless' for its methodology. The Shoo Lee Panel and multiple other practising neonatologists have concluded that his methods — particularly for air embolism — fall well below the standard expected in modern neonatology.
It is our view that the methods used to infer cause of death in this case fall well below the standard expected in modern neonatology.
Dr Evans was presented to the jury as the authoritative neonatal expert. Juries were not told how long he had been out of routine neonatal intensive care, nor of the 2023 family-court characterisation.
The Panel's methodological critique is unusually direct: the techniques Evans used to infer cause of death 'fall well below the standard expected in modern neonatology'.