Role in the public-record commentary
Dr Skelton featured in “Lucy Letby: Did She Really Do It?” (Channel 5, 6 October 2024) and the follow-up “Lucy Letby: The New Evidence”. The documentaries explored the controversy and doubts around the case and featured insights from medical and legal experts seeking an official review.
Dr Skelton’s contributions addressed the psychology of the handwritten notes found at Lucy Letby’s home, characterising them as reflective of extreme mental distress in an experienced and trusted nurse under sustained accusation rather than as forensic confession material. Her framing maps to the broader self-blame-psychology literature that Prof. Gísli Guðjónsson’s subsequent post-conviction report applies in detail.
Why this biography is on the site
The two Channel 5 documentaries are the first British mainstream TV engagement with the post-conviction expert critique — they predate the February 2026 Netflix documentary by some 16 months. Dr Skelton’s contributions are part of that engagement.
Read alongside
- Prof. Gísli Guðjónsson — biography
- Analysis: self-blame psychology
- Analysis: the so-called confessions
- Media analysis hub
Source
Channel 5 documentaries (broadcast October 2024 onwards); Edinburgh Napier University faculty profile; The Conversation contributor profile.