PASSAGE OF THE DAY: 'Letby has twice been refused permission to appeal against her convictions. But I believe the time has come for all the evidence to be re-examined. Now her case is once again with the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates wrongful convictions. They have notoriously failed to correct terrible injustices in the past. Now is their chance to restore their own reputation and my night’s sleep, to provide closure for the bereaved parents and justice for Letby."
COMMENTARY: "Esther Rantzen: Why Lucy Letby’s convictions need to be re-examined, published on January 31, 2026. (Dame Esther Rantzen is a broadcaster and founder of the charity Childline which is devoted to protecting vulnerable children.)
SUB-HEADING: "The questioning of evidence by a panel of experts, the deaths of children in a Glasgow hospital and a police herd instinct on decisions raise serious doubts."
GIST: "Lucy Letby is giving me sleepless nights again. During her trial, when we heard the details of the deaths of so many babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and what appeared to be incontrovertible evidence that they had been murdered by the nurse who should have been looking after them, it was every parent’s worst nightmare. But I’ve been asking myself, did we have all the facts? Far more important, did the jury have all the facts?
Like millions of others, I avidly watched the BBC series The Traitors. Not because it was entertaining, quite the reverse: because it was so serious. It showed that even retired police officers could not tell the difference between those who tell the truth and those who lie. It showed that fragments of evidence can be lost and overwhelmed by “gut feelings” and herd instinct. And it prompted in me the thought that we urgently need to re-examine the case of Letby.
There are two more reasons why this case needs to be re-examined. Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, after an inquiry lasting six years, only at the very end admitted what parents had been alleging for so long: that infections in the hospital water and air could have caused the infections that caused their children’s deaths. And we know that infections existed in the water supply for the vulnerable babies ward in Chester.
Furthermore, it was the identical infection to the one found in a baby’s tube in Chester. The Glasgow parents say that for years the hospital staff lied to them and obstructed their attempts to discover the truth. Killing children is a terrible accusation, whoever is being accused.
And accusers can be passionately attached to their theories, even when others calmly and authoritatively disagree. The Cheshire police force responsible for mounting the cases against Letby also tried, but failed, to convince the CPS that further cases in different hospitals should result in further charges. And when the CPS announced it would not take further action, the Cheshire police most unusually expressed in public their disappointment and disagreement. But police officers, even with all their training, as The Traitors showed, can be wrong. So why did they take this hugely unusual step? Could it be the passionate expression of herd instinct over evidence?
There was plenty of evidence presented by the prosecution at Letby’s trial. But, since the trial, nearly all that evidence has been contested. The doctor who gave evidence supporting the view that the babies had symptoms that were evidence of murder has since been contradicted by an international panel of 14 experts, all of whom said they could find no evidence of murder, and that the deaths were far more likely to be due to natural causes.
The statistics showing that the number of deaths coincided with Letby’s shift on that ward were, after the court case, contested by experts who said the numbers should have been examined by statisticians because, otherwise, false clusters can be created. And that is in addition to the fact that not all the doors to that ward had the entry and exit times of those who used them included in the statistics.
Recently, a photograph was published of Letby being arrested when she was in bed. But when she described being taken to a police station in her pyjamas, the prosecution alleged that this was untrue and that she had invented this detail to create sympathy for herself. But the prosecution was wrong. It was not a plea for sympathy. It was the truth.
How is it that nobody in the Chester hospital had spotted this “serial killer” murdering babies? One doctor alleged he had done so. He said he went into the ward because he was concerned that she was there alone with the baby. When he got there Letby was standing by a baby’s cot doing nothing, even though the baby’s oxygen supply had been dislodged. But the truth was that he had been called to the neonatal ward by Letby because she was concerned about the baby. Is that the action of a serial killer?
One piece of evidence adduced in court, which is still uncontradicted, is Letby’s own diary, where she describes herself as “evil”. Was that a confession? Or was that the outpouring from a falsely accused nurse under acute pressure and so having recourse to therapy? We know pressure can create false confessions. It is why police video record the statements they take from accused interviewees. Timothy Evans famously confessed to the murder of his wife when in fact she had been killed by Christie, who lived in the same house. Evans was executed in 1950 on the basis of his false confession, which was obtained under pressure. Letby has been convicted and received 15 life sentences — are we certain those convictions are true?
So having watched The Traitors, seen the photograph of Letby arrested in her bed, read the admission by the Glasgow hospital, seen the CPS dismissal of further charges against Letby and the Cheshire police reaction to that decision, I am convinced that Letby’s case should be urgently re-examined.
I know that the bereaved parents are still mourning the loss of their babies and dread having to relive those tragedies if a retrial is agreed. But I believe it would be tragedy upon tragedy if the loss of their babies resulted in the life imprisonment of a nurse whose own life has been shattered beyond repair and who deserves justice.
I have no medical or legal expertise. Throughout my professional career as an investigative journalist, I have tried to uncover the truth and I know how complicated and difficult that can be. It may be that Letby is a serial killer, but it may be that she is not.
Letby has twice been refused permission to appeal against her convictions. But I believe the time has come for all the evidence to be re-examined. Now her case is once again with the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates wrongful convictions. They have notoriously failed to correct terrible injustices in the past. Now is their chance to restore their own reputation and my night’s sleep, to provide closure for the bereaved parents and justice for Letby."
The entire commentary can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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