Why he matters in this case
Dr Hammond is the single UK journalist who has applied specific medical expertise to the Letby evidence consistently across two-and-a-half years of coverage. His “M.D.” column in Private Eye — a title with a strong investigative tradition and no advertising to protect — has been able to engage with the primary medical record in a way most mainstream outlets have not. He has interviewed independent experts, read the Panel report in detail, and walked Private Eye readers through the specific evidential failures on air embolism, insulin and the shift-rota chart.
His coverage is not a campaign. It is a practising doctor with three decades of medical journalism experience saying: the medical evidence does not read as the Crown said it did, and that matters.
Professional background
- Practising NHS GP.
- Long-running author of the “M.D.” column in Private Eye since 1992. His column has covered Bristol paediatric cardiac surgery, Mid Staffordshire, Ian Paterson, the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, and numerous other UK medical-regulatory cases.
- Broadcaster; co-founder of the BBC comedy show Struck Off and Die.
- Has given evidence to Parliamentary select committees on NHS patient safety.
What his Letby coverage has established
His Private Eye coverage across 2023–2026 has documented, in sequence:
- The specific evidential failings on air embolism as identified by Dr Shoo Lee and the Panel.
- The clinical-biochemistry objections to treating the Roche insulin immunoassay as forensic evidence.
- The statistical objections to the shift-rota chart, including the Royal Statistical Society’s own published framework.
- The institutional pattern at the Countess of Chester — consultants’ concerns, executive delay, the RCPCH review’s use as an alternative to police referral.
- The wider context of how UK medical-criminal cases have historically been misjudged — Sally Clark, Angela Cannings — and why this one fits the same pattern.
Why Private Eye’s coverage is structurally different
Private Eye does not take advertising; it does not depend on NHS Trust press offices for access; it has no incentive to align with an emerging consensus. Those structural features let Hammond cover the case on the merits without the cross-pressures most UK news outlets face. That is why his coverage is referenced by Sir David Davis MP, by the Bar Council letter signatories, and by Rob Rinder KC.