When former neonatal nurse Lucy Letby was convicted in 2023 of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six more at a hospital in Cheshire, the consensus was that a monster had been put behind bars – that the world was a safer place. But what if Letby (35) was the victim of a miscarriage of justice – or, worse yet, an institutional stitch-up?
The possibility that Letby might be innocent after all is explored in Panorama: Lucy Letby – Who To Believe (BBC One, Monday, 8pm) – albeit to wildly inconclusive effect.
The BBC isn’t the first to raise questions about the conviction. Panorama airs just a week after Lucy Letby: Beyond Reasonable Doubt, likewise unpacked the case for and against her conviction on ITV – and a year after the New Yorker asserted that, “in the rush to judgement, serious questions about the evidence were ignored”.
The death of children is quite obviously an emotive issue, and it can be hard to come to a case such as this in a neutral state of mind. But even viewers who do their best to be impartial will have found the BBC’s take on Letby’s trial overwhelming and befuddling, with reams of evidence presented and then either debunked or supported by the prosecution or defence. By the end, I find myself knowing a lot more about the charges against her, while being many times more confused as to Letby’s guilt or innocence.
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A cast of dozens is assembled by Panorama reporters Judith Moritz and Jonathan Coffey, who have made two previous documentaries and written a book about Letby. In Letby’s corner is her barrister, Mark McDonald, who is working pro bono to have her conviction overturned and who points to the findings of an international panel of medics (assembled by him) who say Letby has nothing to answer for.
But other experts remain convinced about her guilt, including prosecution expert Dewi Evans, a retired consultant paediatrician. Then there are the parents of the babies, who say that giving a platform to critics of the conviction has caused them fresh trauma.
The case is ever twisting and turning and, without medical knowledge, it’s hard to know who to believe. That said, a report from another hospital where Letby worked that reveals babies’ breathing tubes were removed at a far higher rate when she was on duty feels damming. But when her lawyer, McDonald, demands to see the evidence in black and white, your doubts spiral again.
Lucy Letby: Who to Believe is important journalism – but it is also overwhelming, and some viewers may feel that too much is squeezed into the modest 60-minute run-time. By the end, the two sides are farther apart than ever, and Moritz and Coffey seem baffled – and they’ve literally written a book about Letby.
Shortly before the end credits, McDonald stands outside the women’s prison where she is serving multiple life sentences and predicts she will eventually be freed. Evans, meanwhile, has no doubts whatsoever about where she belongs. “Good god no,” he says. “She’s as guilty as they can be.”
