Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Lucy Letby: Have you changed your mind?

1000 replies

Kittybythelighthouse · 12/08/2025 12:54

The other thread has had a lot of really interesting discussion but we are running out of pages so here’s a new one for those who are interested in continuing the conversation.

Whether you’re sure she’s guilty, sure she isn’t, or are somewhere in between, I’m interested in hearing how your opinion has evolved (or hasn’t!) since you first heard about the case,

Please try to be respectful - this is a heated topic. Its a matter of huge public interest with a lot of strong opinions, but we are all adults and can disagree with each other in a respectful manner.

Old thread is here (the poll still has a few days left):
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5388914-lucy-letby-have-you-changed-your-mind?page=38&reply=146359313

Page 38 | Lucy Letby: have you changed your mind? | Mumsnet

I’ve been sensing a shift in opinions on the Lucy Letby case and I’m interested in hearing from people who have changed their mind either way. Did y...

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5388914-lucy-letby-have-you-changed-your-mind?page=38&reply=146359313

OP posts:
Thread gallery
31
Kittybythelighthouse · 17/08/2025 20:34

Oftenaddled · 17/08/2025 17:31

Probably the most egregious error here:

it is far from obvious that the ‘international panel’, which contains no pathologists, radiologists, endocrinologists or haematologists, have cracked the case by looking at some medical records a decade after the events took place.

Whenever I read a version of that spiel, I know I'm dealing with someone who is gathering their information from Internet trolls. (I mean Snowdon, not you, to be fair - you had a right to expect better of the Spectator).

Anyone making this claim:

a) hasn't read beyond page 2 of the international panel's second short report, which lists the very impressive credentials of the neonatal pathologist who is indeed a member of the panel.

The report is linked at:

https://lucyletbyinnocence.com/#shoolee

b) knows so little of the case that they've missed the fact that McDonald has assembled experts including an endocrinologist, and who have written complementary reports since submitted to the CCRC

https://thirlwall.public-inquiry.uk/document/letter-from-bhandal-law-to-lady-justice-thirlwall-dated-17-march-2025/

c) knows, or pretends to know, so little of the practice of medicine, that he ignores the obvious facts that medics consult with specific experts in their networks as needed - and Lee's been clear on the fact that they did this.

To see someone so ill-informed trumpeting away as if he has anything significant to say on this topic is just too amusing to be irritating. What a joke. Fortunately for this charlatan, there are "hundreds" of pieces of evidence that could be cited in defence of his weird obsession with Letby's guilt. Maybe one day he'll even tell us what they are.

Seriously? We can't take this man seriously!

(And these are not his only errors - just the ones that make it obvious, immediately, just how unserious and unreliable he is)

Snowdon literally mines all of his info from a full time twitter anon who isn’t experienced in any of the areas he feels wanting in the panel. He’s a legitimately stupid man. There’s no other way to characterise him.

OP posts:
Typicalwave · 17/08/2025 23:01

Viviennemary · 17/08/2025 16:24

That's how I thought it would work.

It appears not.

But I’m sure for many ig will be perfectly acceptable for such a conflict of interest to be allowed to stand.

Kittybythelighthouse · 18/08/2025 00:17

Typicalwave · 17/08/2025 23:01

It appears not.

But I’m sure for many ig will be perfectly acceptable for such a conflict of interest to be allowed to stand.

It’s shocking how many people are willing to just shrug and be blase about the avalanche of incompetence in this case at every stage. Even if Letby is guilty as sin, how this case has been managed at every stage should make all of us angry, astonished, and actually fearfu! Why the heck are we paying taxes for this crap? It could be any one of us next and it will be someone. It’s madness to gloss over it. I’ll never understand that attitude.

OP posts:
Newbutoldfather · 18/08/2025 09:05

It should be noted that a PR company, Maltin PR, is currently working for LL pro bono.

Given the influence of MN and the defence’s desire to win the battle of public opinion, I would be exceedingly surprised if they were not posting on this type of thread.

Not that there is anything wrong with that per se, but it is fair to assume that not all posts are from people giving an unbiased opinion.

Noelshighflyingturds · 18/08/2025 09:08

Newbutoldfather · 18/08/2025 09:05

It should be noted that a PR company, Maltin PR, is currently working for LL pro bono.

Given the influence of MN and the defence’s desire to win the battle of public opinion, I would be exceedingly surprised if they were not posting on this type of thread.

Not that there is anything wrong with that per se, but it is fair to assume that not all posts are from people giving an unbiased opinion.

Yes, that will known tactics that we’re all taught at university as part of our Marketing degrees
Post on Mum’s net 🤣🤣

Viviennemary · 18/08/2025 09:18

There's a new article in the DM which focuses on her time in prison. Her hopes are high of release apparently. And some other details which are less than helpful to say the least.

TheRealHousewife · 18/08/2025 09:40

Viviennemary · 17/08/2025 15:36

I think it's extremely unlikely she's innocent. Obviously concerns have been raised at other hospitals she worked at. Otherwise why would the police be investigating.

My understanding is that the other hospitals DID NOT HAVE CONCERNS AT THE TIME; however in light of her (more likely unsafe) convictions the NHS and Police feel it’s prudent to go on a fishing expedition.

Kittybythelighthouse · 18/08/2025 10:09

Newbutoldfather · 18/08/2025 09:05

It should be noted that a PR company, Maltin PR, is currently working for LL pro bono.

Given the influence of MN and the defence’s desire to win the battle of public opinion, I would be exceedingly surprised if they were not posting on this type of thread.

Not that there is anything wrong with that per se, but it is fair to assume that not all posts are from people giving an unbiased opinion.

Now this is a conspiracy theory. Ffs.

OP posts:
Kittybythelighthouse · 18/08/2025 10:18

Noelshighflyingturds · 18/08/2025 09:08

Yes, that will known tactics that we’re all taught at university as part of our Marketing degrees
Post on Mum’s net 🤣🤣

So pathetic. Given this silly man creeped through all my posts to try and intimidate me he should know I was posting about this case before Maltin PR came on board.

Also if he’s so concerned about ethics and PR I wonder how he feels about the fact that Cheshire police paid one of the co-hosts of the daily Mail ‘The Trial of Lucy Letby’ podcast thousands via her media/pr company The Media Factory for ‘publicity’ during the trial?

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/11/letby-podcaster-in-conflict-of-interest-row-over-payments/

OP posts:
Newbutoldfather · 18/08/2025 10:23

@Kittybythelighthouse ,

I thought you were ignoring me! I really wish you would.

A conspiracy theory? That a PR company does PR or that they use social media to do so?!

I have heard this terrible conspiracy that a bear once shat in the woods.

Newbutoldfather · 18/08/2025 10:27

And @Kittybythelighthouse ,

Can you stop with the personal attacks, please?

’Silly’ and ‘stupid’ both of which you have called me are attacks and are personal.

I haven’t bothered to report you but I will if you continue breaching the site rules. You have insulted the intelligence of several other posters on this thread, too.

Kittybythelighthouse · 18/08/2025 10:34

Newbutoldfather · 18/08/2025 10:27

And @Kittybythelighthouse ,

Can you stop with the personal attacks, please?

’Silly’ and ‘stupid’ both of which you have called me are attacks and are personal.

I haven’t bothered to report you but I will if you continue breaching the site rules. You have insulted the intelligence of several other posters on this thread, too.

You have insulted all of our intelligence consistently while overestimating your own. You have also attempted to intimidate me, which you’re trying to do again. I find you to be an insufferable man attempting to lord it over women. Your type is not rare or interesting. I am not intimidated by you or impressed by you. I am simply bored to tears by you. Learn to cope.

I have not insulted any other posters. Just you. Stop lying.

OP posts:
Typicalwave · 18/08/2025 10:35

Newbutoldfather · 18/08/2025 09:05

It should be noted that a PR company, Maltin PR, is currently working for LL pro bono.

Given the influence of MN and the defence’s desire to win the battle of public opinion, I would be exceedingly surprised if they were not posting on this type of thread.

Not that there is anything wrong with that per se, but it is fair to assume that not all posts are from people giving an unbiased opinion.

And what of the hundreds of articles written before and during the trial? It big hitting news outlets? I’d say the prosecution had some pretty good PR and continues to enjoy the PR.

You seem very determined that we should have a system that decides guilty and that’s the end of the road. No matter what comes to light to cast doubt.

is that what you’re arguing for? Because it seems so.

Do you disagree with even posthumous over turnings of guilt?

Do you even want ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ to even be a thing?

It almost feels as if you wish to rerun to the days of guilt via witch trial

Typicalwave · 18/08/2025 10:37

Kittybythelighthouse · 18/08/2025 10:18

So pathetic. Given this silly man creeped through all my posts to try and intimidate me he should know I was posting about this case before Maltin PR came on board.

Also if he’s so concerned about ethics and PR I wonder how he feels about the fact that Cheshire police paid one of the co-hosts of the daily Mail ‘The Trial of Lucy Letby’ podcast thousands via her media/pr company The Media Factory for ‘publicity’ during the trial?

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/11/letby-podcaster-in-conflict-of-interest-row-over-payments/

Jesus Christ - that’s actually true? I honestly brushed that off as being far too incredible a claim to actually be true.

Kittybythelighthouse · 18/08/2025 10:42

Typicalwave · 18/08/2025 10:37

Jesus Christ - that’s actually true? I honestly brushed that off as being far too incredible a claim to actually be true.

The one about Media Factory? Astonishingly yes it’s true.

OP posts:
Typicalwave · 18/08/2025 10:44

Kittybythelighthouse · 18/08/2025 10:42

The one about Media Factory? Astonishingly yes it’s true.

Everyone’s in each others pockets.

Newbutoldfather · 18/08/2025 10:47

@Typicalwave ,

‘And what of the hundreds of articles written before and during the trial? It big hitting news outlets? I’d say the prosecution had some pretty good PR and continues to enjoy the PR.’

But that is not professional PR, at least as far as I know? It is rare for a convicted criminal to have a PR agency working for them. Maybe even unique? Of course, that cuts both ways, as they are doing it pro bono. Maybe they really believe in her innocence.

‘You seem very determined that we should have a system that decides guilty and that’s the end of the road. No matter what comes to light to cast doubt’

That is quite complex. I totally believe in innocent until proven guilty. But she was proven guilty in a jury trial and the court of appeal rejected the appeal as no ‘new’ evidence had come to light.

I totally respect the process that is now occurring, but I do think that this should remain within the court system and not be some kind of public debate.

Again, if you read my posts, I have merely made certain observations about data etc. I have qualified them all and at no point have I said what I believe (as I am totally unsure). But I dislike the narrative of ‘my experts are better than your experts’ and the attempt to discredit one prosecution expert witness when there were several, and this only formed one plank of a 10 MONTH trial.

I am happy to await the outcome of the review.

Typicalwave · 18/08/2025 10:49

Newbutoldfather · 18/08/2025 10:47

@Typicalwave ,

‘And what of the hundreds of articles written before and during the trial? It big hitting news outlets? I’d say the prosecution had some pretty good PR and continues to enjoy the PR.’

But that is not professional PR, at least as far as I know? It is rare for a convicted criminal to have a PR agency working for them. Maybe even unique? Of course, that cuts both ways, as they are doing it pro bono. Maybe they really believe in her innocence.

‘You seem very determined that we should have a system that decides guilty and that’s the end of the road. No matter what comes to light to cast doubt’

That is quite complex. I totally believe in innocent until proven guilty. But she was proven guilty in a jury trial and the court of appeal rejected the appeal as no ‘new’ evidence had come to light.

I totally respect the process that is now occurring, but I do think that this should remain within the court system and not be some kind of public debate.

Again, if you read my posts, I have merely made certain observations about data etc. I have qualified them all and at no point have I said what I believe (as I am totally unsure). But I dislike the narrative of ‘my experts are better than your experts’ and the attempt to discredit one prosecution expert witness when there were several, and this only formed one plank of a 10 MONTH trial.

I am happy to await the outcome of the review.

Are you telling me the papers do not know how to whip up a mob?

To sway publuc opinion?

Because I can promise you, they do. That’s their business, and has been for a very long time.

Newbutoldfather · 18/08/2025 10:55

@Typicalwave ,

‘Are you telling me the papers do not know how to whip up a mob?

To sway publuc opinion?

Because I can promise you, they do. That’s their business, and has been for a very long time‘

No, I don’t disagree with any of that. But there are reporting restrictions during a trial and the jury should be controlled by a judge.

We are in a very strange period now where people are allowed to talk about it and, like all dialogues in the current age, it is ridiculously polarised.

If it gets sent to the appeals court, they will probably have to decide one way or another definitively. It would be very hard to find an unbiased jury for a retrial (one way or another).

Oftenaddled · 18/08/2025 11:05

There are hundreds of active threads on mumsnet, and several dealing with this topic from well before a PR agency came on board with Letby's defence to help out free of charge. (Good for them).

There is just no need for this level of suspicion and gatekeeping. The implications that people must not be qualified to discuss this, or must be personally involved in the case, or must be linked with a PR firm.

Most people on this thread are contributing sensible, evidence-backed, scientifically and statistically literate posts, without drama.

There is no need for anyone that slink in casting aspersions rather than post to query or contest and points they see as doubtful. Choosing instead to utter dire warnings that things may not be as they seem is not a contribution to the discussion, and shows little faith in one's own capacity to contribute effectively.

(If any PR agency wishes to pay me for my wise words, by all means, please get in touch for my hourly rate. Let the floodgates open!)

Kittybythelighthouse · 18/08/2025 11:07

Typicalwave · 18/08/2025 10:49

Are you telling me the papers do not know how to whip up a mob?

To sway publuc opinion?

Because I can promise you, they do. That’s their business, and has been for a very long time.

I see our self-appointed agent of chaos has “airily dismissed” the fact that Cheshire police literally paid Caroline Cheetham’s media/pr company while she was making an extremely popular Daily Mail podcast about the trial. That’s fine of course. As long as it ultimately ends up in a witch being burned he’s okay with it. He can even find a way to make pro bono work appear more sinister than back handers, in his own mind anyway.

Long trials are a feature of miscarriages of justice, often more indicative of a plethora of weak evidence than anything strong.

He seems to be arguing that measured and rational public scrutiny of the judicial system is somehow wrong. On the contrary, such public scrutiny is a vital element of British justice, a crucial check on the justice system, just as jury trials are.

He thinks I must be invested in this for sinister reasons, because a woman using her brain and engaging in matters of extreme public interest is unimaginable to him. I’m doing this because there have been so many questions raised by a multitude of rational experts, and so much slippery/questionable behaviour by the prosecution, the police, and the court, that I am concerned about a miscarriage of justice.

No miscarriage of justice was ever overturned without public and media scrutiny. Given the fact that we all live under the same justice system and any of us could find ourselves unfairly at the wrong side of it if the process is not as rigorous or fair as it should be, it’s rational and reasonable to scrutinise it. It’s completely fine for women in mumsnet to discuss this case without being constantly told by one self regarding bore of a man that they should shut up.

Procedural justice, and public scrutiny of justice, is of tremendous importance to every British citizen whether they are aware of that or not. He’s either unaware of that himself, or he thinks women on mumsnet should not have the right to scrutinise the justice system that directly affects their own lives.

Either way, constant interruptions about whether we should be allowed to have this conversation at all are unhelpful and really frigging boring.

OP posts:
Typicalwave · 18/08/2025 11:08

Newbutoldfather · 18/08/2025 10:55

@Typicalwave ,

‘Are you telling me the papers do not know how to whip up a mob?

To sway publuc opinion?

Because I can promise you, they do. That’s their business, and has been for a very long time‘

No, I don’t disagree with any of that. But there are reporting restrictions during a trial and the jury should be controlled by a judge.

We are in a very strange period now where people are allowed to talk about it and, like all dialogues in the current age, it is ridiculously polarised.

If it gets sent to the appeals court, they will probably have to decide one way or another definitively. It would be very hard to find an unbiased jury for a retrial (one way or another).

i agree, the jury ‘should’ be controlled by the judge.

and I fail to understand his any judge, even if he’s only got GCSE maths could have allowed a a rota sheet that only picked out the deaths and incidents that Lucy Letby was on duty for. It was an incredibly coear example of misleading cherry picking and it was relied upon heavily.

Nor the use of an expert who wasn't actually an expert and then other experts such as the pathologies whi wasnt even a pathologist of the three whi had conducted the post mortems, rather a pathologist who apparently had based their opinion on Evan’s reports (happy to be wrong there)

Its incredible stuff.

Everyind should be questioning how we do justice in Themis country. We have an insane amount of cimonvictiins being overturned or quashed and retried every single year - at public expense.

the law commission has warned about the dangers of the way else use of ‘experts’ in yhd courts.

And yet plus ca change.

Oftenaddled · 18/08/2025 11:11

The Mail did very well out of Letby's case (which, as a commercial enterprise, is their right). A whole new subscription driven model for reporting crimes, for example, and with Cheetham and Hull at the centre of it. Yet they never declared their conflict of interest to the Daily Mail Group, which has acknowledged this.

https://pressgazette.co.uk/podcasts/daily-mail-dmg-media-the-crime-desk-true-crime-podcast-subscription-launch/

or

https://archive.is/dds2w

How Mail has gained thousands of subscribers for crime podcasts

DMG Media has launched The Crime Desk, a true crime podcast subscription offering exclusive episodes and paywalling older content.

https://pressgazette.co.uk/podcasts/daily-mail-dmg-media-the-crime-desk-true-crime-podcast-subscription-launch/

Typicalwave · 18/08/2025 11:14

And personal opinion, but the fuck up here lies with the hospital management who failed to do the sensible thing: getting forensic pm’s wgere they could instead of misieading itger Drs to review the cases (Probably bevause they wanted to avoid scrutiny as one of the 21 units to being foagged as unsafe and in neex if urgent review in 2015 by the MBRRACE reports and the Furness hospital scandal having been released in 2015 and having had one of their own consultants kill a baby in 2014 on what most wouod consider a series of rookie errors - Jo McPartland, the head pathologist at Alderhey later stated that had she known WHY she was being asked to review (and she found nothing suspicious) she would have refused as told Harvey to call the police and get the coroner involved for forensic pms.

The best chance of gathering the correct evidence has gone.

And now it’s utterly awful whichever way one looks at this case.

Kittybythelighthouse · 18/08/2025 11:14

Besides anything else, if we did all sit nicely and only talk about nappies and crochet, as this fella thinks we should, it would still be impossible to get an unbiased jury given the absolute state of most of the reporting even during the reporting ban. Allowing only what is said in the court to be reported is a straight recipe for only the very prejudicial prosecution allegations to be reported. Prosecution allegations are not fact or evidence but will likely be salacious and lurid enough for tabloid front pages in a case like this.

I’m not creepy or bored enough to trawl through his old posts but I wonder, did he complain about public conversation influencing juries when the boot was on the other foot? I bet he did not. Funny that.

OP posts:
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

This thread is not accepting new messages.
Swipe left for the next trending thread