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Lucy Letby: Who to Believe? review – just when you thought this case couldn’t get any more confusing …

Panorama’s new investigation into the convicted nurse is muddled and stuffed with conflicting theories. It feels more like radio phone-in bickering than serious journalismIn May 2024, the New Yorker published an article with the headline “A British nurse was found guilty of killing seven babies. Did she do it?” Access to the online version of Rachel Aviv’s piece was banned in the UK due to reporting restrictions, with Letby’s retrial on an additional count of attempted murder then imminent. Rules aside, asking whether Letby was in fact innocent also felt taboo at the time, a pursuit for social media conspiracy theorists. Fast forward 15 months, and “did she do it?” is merely par for the course when it comes to the case, with even experts cited by the prosecution apparently unconvinced of Letby’s guilt.This new Panorama comes hot on the heels of an ITV documentary that aired earlier this month, Lucy Letby: Beyond Reasonable Doubt?. That programme focused on holes in the evidence that was presented to the jury who found Letby guilty of killing seven babies and attempting to kill seven more at the Countess of Chester Hospital between 2015 and 2016. Hers had been, said Neena Modi, a professor of neonatal medicine, a “deeply disturbing” trial based on flawed evidence. Claims made in the trial were roundly rubbished by a panel of specialists who reviewed the case, and by experts found by the programme makers, making the evidence sound more like a series of sad anomalies than conclusive proof of wrongdoing by Letby. In any case, one would be unlikely to come away from that programme without at least a measure of doubt about her convictions. Continue reading...

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