Role in the case
Prof. Arthurs gave expert evidence at trial on post-mortem radiology (post-mortem magnetic resonance imaging and post-mortem computed tomography) for a number of indicted cases. His expert role was to interpret radiological findings against the prosecution’s theory of cause of death.
His specialty — perinatal and paediatric post-mortem imaging — is specifically relevant to differential diagnoses of air embolism, where intravascular gas patterns would be detectable on high-resolution imaging.
Post-conviction radiological re-readings
As part of the October 2025 CCRC application, independent paediatric radiologists have re-read the original imaging for several indicted cases. Their findings include:
- Post-mortem imaging in the indicted cases does not show the intravascular gas pattern that venous air embolism would produce at the volumes and locations the prosecution’s theory required.
- The differential-diagnosis framework for non-specific findings (gas from post-mortem decomposition, gas from resuscitation efforts, gas from natural gastrointestinal sources) was not fully set out at trial.
- The Royal College of Radiologists’ guidance on post-mortem imaging interpretation in neonates has standards that independent reviewers apply against the trial record.
- Several paediatric-radiology specialists have publicly disputed specific interpretations of the original trial imaging.
Why this biography is on the site
This biography is a reference page. Prof. Arthurs’s professional standing is not in question; he is an internationally recognised paediatric radiologist. The review engages his trial-specific interpretations of the imaging, not his clinical competence or research standing. We identify him here to allow readers to navigate court transcripts, Panel materials, and the post-mortem imaging commentary.
Read alongside
- Evidence: radiographs
- Evidence: post-mortem findings
- Evidence: air embolism
- Evidence: forensic-pathology standard
- Dr Andreas Marnerides — reviewing pathologist
- Dr Shoo Lee — Panel convenor
Source
Trial transcripts (2022-2023 R v Letby); Chester Standard contemporaneous coverage; Royal College of Radiologists / British Society of Paediatric Radiology professional listings; Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College London faculty profiles; October 2025 CCRC application independent-radiology re-readings.
Last verified: 22 April 2026.