All the evidence. All the failings. All in one place.
Justice for Lucy Letby
The complete public-interest index: every key document, every institutional failing, every expert challenge to the prosecution case — drawn from the Thirlwall Inquiry, the February 2025 International Expert Panel, and the ongoing CCRC review.
Between 2015 and 2016, seventeen babies either died or suffered serious collapses on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital. Lucy Letby was convicted of seven murders and seven attempted murders in 2023 and a further count in 2024. In February 2025, fourteen international neonatologists led by Dr Shoo Lee publicly concluded that they found no medical evidence of deliberate harm in any of the cases reviewed. The case is now under review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Key facts
Case status
Where the case stands today
- Convictions
- Stand. Seven counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder (2023) plus one further attempted murder at retrial (2024).
- CCRC review
- Application under active review. The CCRC reviews possible miscarriages of justice; it does not itself decide guilt or innocence. In March 2026 the Commission confirmed its head of investigations would play no further part in the review, 'in the interests of transparency', after it emerged he had publicly praised the police officer who led Operation Hummingbird. Application received: 3 February 2025 (evening).
- Thirlwall Inquiry
- Concluded. Lady Justice Thirlwall published her final report on 15 September 2026, in three volumes with a summary report and 17 recommendations. It found 'a complete failure to protect babies on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital', describing 'dysfunctional management and governance; a gulf between hospital leadership and clinicians; and failure to understand the fundamentals of safeguarding'. The Inquiry examined the institutional response and was not a criminal appeal; it did not consider whether the convictions are safe and cannot overturn them. On 16 July 2026 the Government declined a Commons request to widen the terms of reference, the minister telling the House that the point of the Inquiry 'is not to rehearse Lucy Letby's trial; it is to focus on how people within the trust responded'. Published on 15 September 2026, in Liverpool — Volumes I to III, a summary report and a separate recommendations document, all at thirlwall.public-inquiry.uk/the-report/.
Key live disputes: medical causation (air embolism, insulin, NEC, sepsis); statistical reasoning (shift-chart, base rates, selection bias); documentary evidence (Post-it notes, Facebook searches, handover sheets); expert methodology and disclosure (Hindmarsh GMC non-disclosure; Evans methodology); door-swipe data mislabelling (CPS admission August 2024); hospital staffing, acuity and governance failings.
February 2025 — International Expert Panel
14 international neonatologists examined the evidence.
Convened by Dr Shoo Lee — Professor Emeritus of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto and the lead author of the 1989 air-embolism paper cited by the prosecution — the panel reviewed the medical evidence for every count on the indictment.
- There was no medical evidence to support malfeasance causing death or injury in any of the 17 cases in the trial.
- Death or injury of the affected infants was due to natural causes or to errors in medical care.
- The Panel identified problems in the medical care of patients on the Countess of Chester neonatal unit, and in teamwork and inter-disciplinary collaboration.
- Each case was reviewed independently by two experts; where they disagreed, a third reviewed it and a consensus opinion was formed.
"There was no medical evidence to support malfeasance causing death or injury in any of the 17 cases in the trial."
— Dr Shoo Lee, speaking at the London press conference, Reported findings: 3 February 2025 (7 cases); further report June 2025 (remaining 10 cases).
What the evidence says
Prosecution claim, then counter-evidence. Three of the ten issues now on record.
medical
Air embolism — the Shoo Lee 1989 paper misapplied
Prosecution: The Crown argued that skin discolouration described on several infants — patches of pink surrounded by pale, almost marbled, skin — was diag…
Counter: Dr Shoo Lee, the lead author of that 1989 paper, has publicly stated that the skin signs described at the Letby trial do not match those in …
Read in fullmedical
Insulin poisoning — a screening assay used as forensic proof
Prosecution: Blood samples from two infants — Children F and L — returned results suggesting raised insulin with low C-peptide. Normally insulin and C-pe…
Counter: The Roche Cobas immunoassay used is a screening test. Its own manufacturer's guidance requires confirmation by mass spectrometry before a re…
Read in fullstatistical
The shift chart — selection bias presented as proof
Prosecution: A chart shown to the jury plotted 25 suspicious events against the nurses on duty for each. Letby was the only nurse present at all 25. The …
Counter: The 25 events were selected in part because Letby was there. Collapses where she was not on shift were excluded from the chart. Statistician…
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What changed recently
The last six expert-evidence and institutional milestones, most recent first.
15 September 2026
Thirlwall Inquiry publishes its final report: 'a complete failure to protect babies'
Lady Justice Thirlwall published her final report on 15 September 2026 in Liverpool, in three volumes with a summary report and 17 recommendations. She found "a complete failure to protect babies on t…
27 August 2026
Thirlwall Inquiry sets its final-report publication date: 15 September 2026
The Thirlwall Inquiry announces that Lady Justice Thirlwall's final report will be published on 15 September 2026 in Liverpool. The day begins with an opportunity for Inquiry participants to see the r…
10 August 2026
Death reported of Dr Mark Deakin, who gave evidence at trial and at the Inquiry
Dr Mark Deakin, the consultant paediatrician who gave evidence at Lucy Letby's trial and to the Thirlwall Inquiry under the ciphers Dr A and Dr U, died in hospital on 3 July 2026, aged 53. His death w…
5 August 2026
CPS upholds its decision not to bring further charges — a final decision
The Crown Prosecution Service confirms that its January 2026 decision not to bring further charges has been upheld on review. Families of six of the nine babies covered by that decision had asked for …
5 August 2026
Thirlwall Inquiry publishes a further tranche of documents
The Inquiry publishes a further tranche of documents on its website, describing it as part of the routine process of making Inquiry material available in advance of the publication of Lady Justice Thi…
22 July 2026
BBC: seized maternity notes were never disclosed to the defence
BBC File on 4 Investigates reports that the maternity notes for the babies in the case — the records of each mother's pregnancy, labour and birth — were seized by Cheshire Police but were neither revi…
Start here
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Triage page — newcomer, sceptic, supporter, medical, statistical, legal, Thirlwall, documents, or want to help.
OpenWhere the evidence stands
April 2026 rollup — read this first if you're new to the case.
OpenLatest developments
Quarter-by-quarter digest of every significant 2025–2026 development.
OpenNeonatal care primer
Plain-English primer on what happens on a NICU — the vocabulary you need to read the evidence.
OpenTranscripts library
Hosted primary-record documents: sentencing remarks, Thirlwall evidence, the Panel press conference.
OpenCommentary library
Nearly 200 independent YouTube analyses, expert interviews and documentary reviews — searchable, with quotes from named experts.
OpenHow to help
Six concrete actions — sign the petition, email your MP, subscribe, share.
OpenWhat happens next?
The Criminal Cases Review Commission is reviewing the submitted evidence (application received 3 February 2025 (evening)). The Thirlwall Inquiry published its final report on 15 September 2026; it examined the institutional response and expressly did not consider whether the convictions are safe. You can help by reading carefully, by sharing primary sources and by following the sensitivity policy.