To think that Lucy Letby will get a new trial?

[NameChangeMay2026]

The previous thread on Letby is almost full. Posting here for traffic.

If we have any lawyers here, what do you think the likelihood is of Letby getting a new trial? I'm a layperson, but I'm going to guess that she will get one. It seems that many, many rebuttals have appeared since her conviction.

YABU - she will not get a new trial. The case is settled.
YANBU - the new evidence/discussion is compelling and she will probably get a re-trial.

I've been mainly convinced of her guilt, but I have started reading the free Private Eye series on the case by Phil Hammond. Now I don't know what to think. Here's the series, if anyone wants to read it. https://www.private-eye.co.uk/special-reports/lucy-letby

I know you are rather expert on all this oftenaddled

Given what you’ve said was constant standard of care over time - why was it such an increase though? Something like 2-3 deaths to 17 or something or was it 10?

at the time it was said to be believed that the defence experts for her were withdrawn because they confirmed prosecution case rather than supported her innocence - so weren’t asked to stand

I mean, the notes did say "I'm evil. I did this." and in a different part "Murder. Murderer. No one will ever know what happened and why."

It's pretty damning stuff. The normal reaction to a confession note is not to say "Oh, they didn't mean it. It's a form of therapy." The normal reaction is to take the words at their meaning.

There were also notes saying that she didn't do it, which are often forgotten about.

But in what way did the mother interrupt Lucy Letby trying to kill her baby? The baby had blood around his mouth - a symptom of gastrointestinal bleeding hospitals need to look out for. Lucy Letby told her she had called the doctor, which is what she needed to do. You would not pick up or clean a distressed baby with suspected internal bleeding - not safe.

What you are seeing in that headline is the prosecution's claim that the mother walked in on Lucy Letby trying to murder the baby. It's the prosecution's job to make claims like that. But when you look at the facts that is just their way of interpreting the events

Exactly that, "the deaths" were picked out from a much broader set of deaths

The unfortunate reality is that we don't have systems capable of speedily identifying miscarriages of justice, and public attention is one of the known ways to try and mitigate against this. One doesn't have to like this to understand that it's how things are.

It's an utterly galling case.
It's embarrassing and devastating that there were so many flaws.

There are huge questions to ask

I don’t know how to vote as I think the case is unsound but that doesn’t mean she’ll get a new trial. The world isn’t always just.

There were many rumuors going around about why the defence didn't use their experts.

One being that they could disprove the theories of dewi evans, not that they agreed with them.

Another was that the judge wouldn't allow the defense to use a point by point case.

there were other rumours as well.

That isn’t a confession. It’s random words. Things she’s being called that she’s trying to process and get her head around.

No offence but it’s this lack of critical thinking which is why so many people are taken in by such weak evidence.

The unit was taking more children needing intensive care, from April 2015 - i.e. shortly before the uptick in deaths. (Obviously this won't be the only explanation but we don't have full data on staff absences at the time. We do have an email from one of the doctors complaining of mounting pressure and fearing that this would cost lives).

The mother said the baby was screaming in a way that a baby should never scream, that he was acutely distressed, that he had blood round his mouth, and we know that the nurse with him was the same one who was at dozens of deaths and collapses, far more than any other nurse.

This is why I am so confused: You can excuse away all of the above. You can excuse away all of it. But put together, it all paints quite a picture.

Letby had a shocking defense team.
The prosecution had terrible experts (Dewi..?)
The weight of evidence and probability leans on a retrial and further arrests regarding her managers.
Utter shitshow and terrible for the bereaved families wanting answers.

Blimey, a true Knox believer in 2026?! You've illustrated the poster's point beautifully for her!

"I'm evil. I did this" is extremely clear.

You could explain away any confession by saying "Oh, they didn't mean it."

Possibly the therapy is the correct explanation. But how can anyone ever know?

I'm thoroughly confused as to her guilt.

It was a more than an uptick wasn’t it though?

You have taken me absolutely literally here and I am a bit confused as to how.

Prisoners have a voice and that voice is the CCRC. Therefore, if the CCRC are operating out of sight, largely out of public view and out of the public eye (and without any real public sympathy) then they are something of a law unto themselves and that voice is mute.

People are only outraged about miscarriages of justice once they are exposed.

Agreed - but it was that they would help the prosecution - if they could disprove dewi why not put them up?

I know they are rumours but seems fairly obv to me - you only put them up if they help your defence

Absolutely no evidence Amanda was involved in death of Meredith Kercher. Just salacious reporting. I think the killer, who was released, is now facing other charges?

The only picture I see there is of a baby in extreme distress. If his death was natural, it was from some form of internal bleeding. Of course a mother wouldn't have heard her child cry like that before.

Lucy Letby was where she was supposed to be, in the ward with the child.

It's a horrible thing to think about, but do you really think a child cries differently when they are dying a painful death naturally than when they are murdered?

Do you think medical staff are always to blame when a child in their care is in extreme pain?

You know her? How?

When I was a new ICU nurse we were short staffed. I finished my night shift and said 'let me get some sleep and I'll come back in and do a twilight if that helps.' So I went home, slept, then returned to do a twilight shift. It wasn't an official shift time, but I arrived at 5pm and went home at 2 am. I'm sure someone could have made something of that in a court. The fact that I was 'inserting myself into the environment', etc. In reality, I was just being kind, and slight l although I couldn't care for a patient on my own (there's a strict induction process and I was only part way through it), I could help nurses with turns, suction, drug preparation, etc.

Medicine is much more nebulous than it seems at times, especially in an emergency. In a resuscitation situation with adults, for example, you have a resuscitation leader, but everyone else is just doing their bit. You might have 4 people taking it in turns to do chest compressions, people leaning in over each other to get blood samples, administer drugs, someone on the defib, someone else on airway.... It's not chaos, but it isn a more complex situation than you see on Grey's Anatomy. There should be a scribe who records exactly who did what and when.

I haven't read extensively, but I wonder if there was an accurate log during these events at the Countess of Chester, especially as they were only holding Consultant-led ward rounds twice per week, rather than the minimum of daily that should have been. Bear in mind that some hospitals, such as University hospital Cardiff, have NICU ward rounds three times per day.

All in all, it seems like it would be very easy for someone to be accused and to have no way of proving their innocence.

As an aside, it's completely unscientific, but when I saw the documentary with her arrest in it, I thought that Lucy looked so completely stunned by her arrest that I just instinctively felt that you couldn't make up that reaction.

“I haven’t done anything wrong”
Is also extremely clear and she wrote that on the same notes.

But you’re assuming that “I did this” equals “I murdered babies”.

Can you really not imagine that “I did this” might be referring to something else?

Such as “I was medically incompetent and didn’t look after them well enough.” Or “I failed to build good relationships and they all bullied and scapegoated me” or “(they think) I did this”.