Frequently asked questions

Because the medical evidence that convicted Letby rests on methods that leading international neonatologists have publicly rejected. The February 2025 International Expert Panel — fourteen senior specialists convened by Dr Shoo Lee — reviewed every case and concluded there is no medical evidence of deliberate harm. Independent statisticians have rejected the shift-rota chart as a textbook fallacy. Endocrinologists have rejected the insulin test as unreliable. More than 31 independent expert reports now support an urgent review.

The notes found at Letby's home include the words 'I am evil I did this'. Psychologists who have reviewed them describe them as classic stress-diary / self-blame entries made by a nurse being blamed for unexplained deaths. A 'confession in the forensic sense' would normally include specific method, victim and motive — none of which appears. Self-blame is common among nurses after deaths they cannot explain, particularly when management is publicly pointing at them.

She wasn't. Events where Letby wasn't present were excluded from the chart shown to the jury, because the chart was selected to include only the 'suspicious' events — which were defined in part by her presence. That is the 'Texas sharpshooter' fallacy: painting the target around the bullet hole. The Royal Statistical Society and Professor Richard Gill (who helped overturn the Lucia de Berk wrongful conviction in the Netherlands) have both publicly criticised the chart.

The tests were screening immunoassays — the Roche Cobas system — which are designed to flag samples for confirmatory testing. No confirmatory testing was ever performed. The assay is known to give false positives in neonates. Leading clinical endocrinologists, including Adel Ismail and the Shoo Lee Panel, regard it as insufficient as forensic proof of exogenous insulin.

It is extremely rare, and the textbook description comes from a 1989 paper by Dr Shoo Lee. Dr Lee himself has stated publicly that the skin signs described at the Letby trial do not match those in his paper and that his work was misapplied in court. The Panel examined every alleged air-embolism case and found none met the diagnostic criteria.

Dr Evans was the prosecution's lead causation expert. He is a retired paediatrician who had not worked in neonatal intensive care for over a decade at the time of trial and reportedly approached Cheshire Police offering his services on the case. A separate family court judge described an unrelated report of his in 2023 as 'worthless'. His methodology is rejected by the Panel.

The bereaved families' grief is real and deserves respect regardless of the verdict. Many independent experts argue that if the medical evidence is unsound then establishing the real cause of these deaths — which may include serious NHS systemic failures — is the only way to deliver genuine accountability. This site does not claim what is in any family's best interest; it presents the evidence the public record now contains.

Yes, in May 2024 the Court of Appeal refused leave to appeal the original convictions on the specific grounds then advanced. That decision pre-dated the publication of the Shoo Lee Panel report and the majority of the expert reports now filed with the CCRC. The Criminal Cases Review Commission — a separate body created specifically to examine new evidence — can refer the case back to the Court of Appeal.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission is the independent statutory body that reviews potential miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. If it concludes there is a real possibility that the Court of Appeal would quash the convictions, it can refer the case back. Referral does not mean release, but it does mean a fresh hearing.

The Thirlwall Inquiry, chaired by Lady Justice Thirlwall, is a public inquiry into how the Countess of Chester Hospital and its regulators responded to the deaths. It is not re-examining the criminal verdicts. Its final report is expected after Easter 2026 and is likely to make findings about NHS management and whistleblowing.

In July 2025 Cheshire Police arrested three former Countess of Chester senior executives on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. No charges have yet been brought. Investigators are understood to be examining whether the delay in escalating consultants' concerns contributed to deaths.

Child K was a 25-week-gestation baby whose endotracheal tube dislodged. Dr Ravi Jayaram testified he found Letby standing over the baby with the tube dislodged. Independent neonatologists, including the Shoo Lee Panel, regard spontaneous ET-tube dislodgement as common in infants of that gestation. Observers have also highlighted differences between Jayaram's contemporaneous 2016 notes and his trial testimony.

During and after the trials, much UK coverage accepted the prosecution account. International outlets not bound by UK reporting restrictions — notably The New Yorker (Rachel Aviv, May 2024) — were among the first to air independent expert scepticism in detail. The Rachel Aviv piece was geo-blocked in the UK during the Child K retrial.

See the Get Involved page. In short: write to your MP citing the Shoo Lee Panel and CCRC application; share the Panel report (link on the Evidence page); correct misinformation online with sources; and if you want, subscribe for updates when the Thirlwall report publishes and when the CCRC issues a decision.

No. This site does not assert guilt or innocence. It compiles publicly available facts, expert reports, and inquiry evidence. The convictions currently stand and the legal process of review is ongoing. Readers are asked to weigh the evidence themselves.