Context
On 3 February 2025, at a press conference in London, Dr Shoo K. Lee — Professor Emeritus of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto and the lead author of the 1989 Archives of Disease in Childhood paper on neonatal air embolism — presented the findings of the International Expert Panel he convened. The panel comprises fourteen senior neonatologists, paediatric pathologists and paediatric specialists from Canada, the UK, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, New Zealand, Taiwan and the United States. It reviewed the medical evidence for every count on the Letby indictment.
Key passages
Dr Shoo Lee
Let me be clear. In each of the seventeen cases that this panel reviewed, we found no medical evidence of deliberate harm.
Dr Shoo Lee
The skin discolouration that was described at the Letby trial does not match the findings in our 1989 paper. Our paper described a specific pattern associated with large-vessel obstruction. That is not what was described to the jury. I must be blunt about this: our work was misapplied.
Dr Shoo Lee
The insulin evidence relied on a screening immunoassay. No confirmatory mass spectrometry was performed. That is not a forensic test. That cannot be the basis of a murder conviction.
Dr Shoo Lee
On the basis of our review, we recommend that the convictions be urgently re-examined by the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the Court of Appeal.
Panel members
The fourteen members are listed in full on our Experts page. The Panel report itself, hosted by Ms Letby’s legal representatives, is linked from our Documents library.