LUCY LETBY: CONVICTED MURDERER OR POSSIBLE MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE? THE QUESTIONS THAT REFUSE TO GO AWAY

For years, the Lucy Letby case has remained one of Britain’s most closely watched criminal cases.

The former neonatal nurse was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016.

She is serving 15 whole-life prison terms and continues to maintain her innocence.

But while the criminal convictions remain in force, questions about some of the evidence, the hospital’s failures and the scientific arguments surrounding the case have continued to generate intense debate.

In 2026, that debate entered another significant phase.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission is examining Letby’s convictions, while the publication of the long-awaited Thirlwall Inquiry report has exposed serious failures inside the hospital where the babies died or suffered unexpected collapses.

At the same time, two experts who had been involved with Letby’s defence recently withdrew from her team, saying they could not support some arguments being advanced on her behalf.

The result is a case in which the criminal convictions, the inquiry into the hospital and the ongoing challenge to those convictions are proceeding on separate tracks.

THE CONVICTIONS

Lucy Letby worked as a neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire.

She was arrested in 2018 after a police investigation into a series of deaths and unexpected collapses involving babies on the neonatal unit.

Her first trial began in 2022 and lasted around 10 months.

In August 2023, a jury convicted her of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others.

She was acquitted on two attempted-murder charges, while the jury could not reach verdicts on several other charges.

A retrial concerning one of those allegations took place in 2024.

Letby was convicted of another attempted murder, bringing the total number of attempted-murder convictions to seven.

She received a whole-life sentence for the murders and attempted murders, meaning she is expected to remain in prison for the rest of her life unless her convictions or sentence are subsequently changed through the legal process.

WHY HAVE QUESTIONS CONTINUED?

The controversy surrounding the case did not end with the verdict.

Medical professionals, statisticians and other specialists have publicly challenged some aspects of the evidence and the way particular medical events were interpreted.

One major area of dispute has involved allegations that babies were deliberately poisoned with insulin.

The prosecution’s case at trial relied on medical evidence and expert interpretation to establish that certain babies had experienced unexplained episodes consistent with deliberate insulin administration.

Some experts supporting Letby’s challenge have subsequently questioned whether the medical evidence necessarily demonstrated poisoning.

Those arguments have been submitted to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

But disagreement among experts does not itself overturn a criminal conviction.

The convictions remain legally valid unless an appeal court changes them.

THE CCRC IS NOW EXAMINING THE CASE

The Criminal Cases Review Commission, or CCRC, is Britain’s independent body responsible for investigating potential miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Letby’s representatives submitted a preliminary application to the CCRC in February 2025.

Additional expert reports and submissions were provided throughout 2025 and into January 2026.

In February 2026, the CCRC confirmed that its review was underway.

The commission also made an important clarification: it does not decide whether someone is innocent or guilty.

Its role is to investigate whether new evidence or new arguments create a real possibility that a conviction would not be upheld by an appeal court.

If the CCRC reaches that threshold, it can refer a conviction back to the Court of Appeal.

That process is still ongoing.

Therefore, there has been no decision by the CCRC overturning Letby’s convictions.

THE THIRLWALL INQUIRY AD