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.
Medical explainers
Plain-English medical explainers covering the mechanisms, conditions and methodologies that feature in the Letby case. Each page links to the comprehensive source-linked evidence material on this site.
What air embolism is, the Lee & Tanswell 1989 paper, and why the diagnostic basis for the air-embolism counts in the Lucy Letby case is contested by the paper's author.
Why endogenous and exogenous insulin can be distinguished by C-peptide ratio, why the immunoassay used in the Letby case is contested, and what mass-spectrometry confirmation would have added.
Plain-English summary of the established natural causes of sudden collapse in preterm and unstable neonates: sepsis, NEC, IVH, PDA, PPHN, tube displacement and resuscitation events.
What neonatal sepsis is, how it presents, why it is in the natural-cause differential for unexpected collapse, and how it features in the post-conviction expert reading of the Letby cases.
What necrotising enterocolitis is, why it produces radiological findings that can resemble those described in the Letby case, and how it features in the post-conviction expert review.
How gestational age maps to expected outcomes in preterm babies, and why the Countess of Chester Hospital's level-2 designation matters to the evidential reading of the indicted cases.
What TPN is, how TPN bags are prepared, and how TPN features in the Letby case as one of the mechanisms the prosecution alleged.
Why neonatal hypoglycaemia has natural causes that must be excluded before exogenous insulin is inferred, and why immunoassay results require confirmatory testing.
Why insulin immunoassays are screening tools, why forensic determination requires mass spectrometry, and why this matters for the Letby insulin counts.
Why neonatal resuscitation can produce post-mortem and clinical findings that look like trauma, and why this matters in the Letby cases.
The medical differential for hepatic injury findings in newborns: resuscitation, sepsis, coagulopathy, and the post-conviction reading of the indicted cases.
Why skin mottling is a non-specific sign in collapsing newborns and why it cannot itself diagnose air embolism.
Why ET-tube displacement is the default clinical assumption when a preterm baby deteriorates unexpectedly, and how this bears on the Child K count.
What TTTS is, how it presents in monochorionic twins, and how the Letby twin cases are reread in light of TTTS.
Why monochorionic twins carry shared-placenta complications that affect post-delivery stability, and how this bears on the Letby twin cases.
Why unit acuity and staffing are part of the evidential picture in the Letby case, even though hospital failings do not by themselves prove innocence.