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.
The Crown's insulin evidence was produced by the Royal Liverpool clinical biochemistry laboratory using the Roche Cobas screening immunoassay. This laboratory and protocol was treated at trial as adequate for the forensic weight placed on the result.
The UK forensic standard for insulin assay in criminal cases is the Royal Surrey County Hospital (RSCH) laboratory at Guildford. Guildford is the reference laboratory accredited under the Forensic Science Regulator's code of practice for endocrinology work in criminal proceedings. It operates mass-spectrometry confirmatory testing alongside the screening immunoassay, at forensic-grade chain-of-custody standards, with protocols fit for forensic purpose. Royal Liverpool is a clinical biochemistry laboratory — competent for clinical diagnostic work, but not operating under the Forensic Science Regulator's code of practice for criminal-evidence purposes. Sending the Countess of Chester samples to Royal Liverpool instead of Guildford was a forensic chain-of-custody failure: the clinical laboratory's protocol is not designed to produce evidence that can bear criminal-trial evidential weight.
A clinical-biochemistry screening result is not a forensic result. Forensic insulin results in the UK come from Guildford. Clinical results come from hospital laboratories. The chain-of-custody distinction matters because the protocols are not the same.
The jury heard the Royal Liverpool result treated as authoritative. The Forensic Science Regulator's code of practice and the distinction between clinical and forensic laboratories were not a central feature of the Crown's case.
The Joint Expert Witness Insulin Report (May 2025) sets out, in technical detail, why the screening result produced by the Royal Liverpool clinical biochemistry laboratory cannot bear the evidential weight the trial placed on it. Forensic-standard testing (Guildford / mass-spectrometry confirmatory protocol) was not performed.