July 2026: Government declines to widen the Thirlwall terms of reference (16 July) · new 100-page insulin report to the CCRC challenging the trial evidence (9 July) · Thirlwall report still expected no earlier than September · inquests relisted to 2027 · Shoo Lee Panel: no medical evidence of deliberate harm.
Medical explainer
Endotracheal (ET) tubes are routinely used for ventilation in preterm babies. UK neonatal guidance is explicit that when a preterm baby deteriorates unexpectedly, the default clinical assumption is that the ET tube has moved — spontaneous dislodgement is routine in very small babies.
The Child K count (returned guilty at 2024 retrial) involved an alleged observation of inaction during desaturation. Post-conviction expert commentary on the ET-tube physiology and timing of re-intubation argues for a tube-displacement-and-re-intubation reading.
The Child K count, on which Letby was convicted at the 2024 retrial, rested on an alleged observation of her standing by while the baby desaturated without intervening.
Post-conviction commentary on endotracheal-tube physiology and the timing of re-intubation argues the sequence is consistent with tube displacement followed by re-intubation — a routine and rapid event in neonatal intensive care — rather than with deliberate inaction.
This count turns on a single eyewitness account of a short period, and the dispute is partly about timing that the contemporaneous record does not resolve to the second.
An endotracheal tube moving out of correct position, which causes rapid desaturation. It is a routine hazard in ventilated neonates and is managed by re-intubation.
Because the count depends on how long a period of desaturation went unaddressed, and on whether that interval is consistent with recognising and correcting a displaced tube.
It is a single-eyewitness count. The site's evidence page on Child K sets out the documented discrepancies between the 2016 contemporaneous note and the 2024 account.
Yes — at the retrial in 2024. That conviction stands.
Found an error or missing source? Send a correction with the page URL and supporting source.