Interview With The Jolly Contrarian On Lucy Letby

Ollie Buxton, a commercial barrister with thirty years of practice, analyses the Letby case through the lens of systemic institutional failure rather than individual bad faith. He draws explicit parallels with LIBOR manipulation prosecutions and the Post Office Horizon scandal, arguing that all three cases share a common pattern: institutions incapable of acknowledging error, expert evidence that goes unchallenged because the adversarial system rewards performance over accuracy, and juries used to launder institutional accountability. Buxton is particularly critical of the Court of Appeal's unwillingness to engage with scientific arguments, explaining how the precedent-based structure of appellate review makes it structurally resistant to reversing convictions grounded in discredited expert science. He argues that serial-killer behaviour patterns are fundamentally illogical in a hospital setting where detection risk is constant and motivation is absent.