See here for essential
background: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2024/07/is-lucy-letby-innocent.html.
The new Netflix documentary about Lucy Letby has been advertised heavily and many people have been anticipating it. I've already announced my intention to present a special episode of The Gas Spanner in which I'll have a live analysis with the listeners about it. The one hour thirty-four minute documentary includes some exclusive new material. There are police bodycam and interview recordings of Lucy and you hear her own words, something that has never been published before in the various news reports. In some of these interviews the participants are all wearing covid masks which demonstrates how long this process has lasted. There are scenes of all three of her arrests. Her parents live near the Countess of Chester Hospital and so she stayed in a room with them, as many adults do these days. In one case she sits on her settee and weeps as the police read her her rights. She also insists of cuddling her cat before being handcuffed. You can hear her mother crying too and Lucy tells her not to look as the policemen put her in their car. I'm a father of a woman of similar age to Lucy and so these are heartrending images... if she's innocent of course. If not then it might be just a sham to disarm her accusers by raising their sympathy. There are interviews with various people involved in the story, such as the consultant paediatrician Dr John Gibbs who first raised the alarm; and also Dr Dewi Jones, the forensic expert who advised the police and judiciary. Also featured is Mark McDonald, the barrister helping arrange an appeal for Lucy. The various police officers who ran the investigation also appear as talking heads. What is unique about this new programme is that it is the first example I've seen in which some of those interviewed are replaced with AI placeholder avatars; this is to protect their anonymity. The avatars are actually not as good as they could be with the best modern animation; as if the producers want the viewers to know that they are not real. This gives the film a strange atmosphere. These visuals are, I suppose, an alternative to "blacking out" people with silhouettes. Many others are given false names. Another sad scene is when baby Zoë's mother describes her experience. The human cost of these tragedies is always stressed throughout. One of the most interesting interviews is with Maisie, a close friend of Letby who trained with her and served with her for a while at Countess. She describes a unit with a bad atmosphere because some of the other nurses were very hostile to her and Lucy. I can well believe it! Lucy was described as very shy and timid, and therefore vulnerable. I have deep understanding of this problem. Maisie was afraid for Lucy's welfare when she was given a job on the neonatal ICU. There is a long description of the trial itself from the point of view of Zoë's mother who was sitting just a few feet away in front of Lucy in Manchester Crown Court, and how Lucy kept looking at her. Lucy's reaction to some of the questions she was asked in the police interview room appears suspicious.
The possibility that Lucy Letby might not be guilty is not
raised until the programme is an hour in; the documentary is very
compartmentalized in this way, almost as if it is a trial in itself. There is a
montage of social media spots declaring how evil Lucy is and how she's the
worst child killer in British legal history, outdoing even the Moors Murderers.
Along with the previously addressed anomalies, Mark McDonald makes the point
that has been overlooked in most current affairs outlets about this case; there
is no motive. Nobody knows why Lucy did this, if she did. Since she was made a
tabloid boogie-woman it's difficult to persuade the public to question the
verdict. Letby's parents specifically asked McDonald to help their daughter and
he agreed. It's quite chilling to hear Lucy, for the first time, describe in
her own words the real reason for the post-it notes. I myself maintain this
cannot be called a confession, see background links. She was venting in written
form her feelings at being redeployed, that her competence was in question. She
was concerned that she was being made a scapegoat by the consultants. The
hospital's occupational health department even told her to do this. Lucy's best
friend Maisie has stood by her all along, never believing the guilty verdict. Why
did the defence not call expert witnesses? Why were the statistics not
questioned? The entire case against Lucy was circumstantial and it did not take
into account certain factors that could make the issue more complicated. It was
just a one-dimensional case of her being on duty at the wrong time and looking
after the wrong patients. David Davis MP, one of the few members of Parliament
I'd trust to read me today's date, raised this issue in the House of Commons.
The prosecution team have been accused of bias. There is an interview with Prof.
Shoo Lee, a paediatrician from Canada
See here for more background: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2025/02/new-lucy-letby-panel.html.
And: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2025/07/lucy-letby-more-arrests.html.
The new Netflix documentary about Lucy Letby has been advertised heavily and many people have been anticipating it. I've already announced my intention to present a special episode of The Gas Spanner in which I'll have a live analysis with the listeners about it. The one hour thirty-four minute documentary includes some exclusive new material. There are police bodycam and interview recordings of Lucy and you hear her own words, something that has never been published before in the various news reports. In some of these interviews the participants are all wearing covid masks which demonstrates how long this process has lasted. There are scenes of all three of her arrests. Her parents live near the Countess of Chester Hospital and so she stayed in a room with them, as many adults do these days. In one case she sits on her settee and weeps as the police read her her rights. She also insists of cuddling her cat before being handcuffed. You can hear her mother crying too and Lucy tells her not to look as the policemen put her in their car. I'm a father of a woman of similar age to Lucy and so these are heartrending images... if she's innocent of course. If not then it might be just a sham to disarm her accusers by raising their sympathy. There are interviews with various people involved in the story, such as the consultant paediatrician Dr John Gibbs who first raised the alarm; and also Dr Dewi Jones, the forensic expert who advised the police and judiciary. Also featured is Mark McDonald, the barrister helping arrange an appeal for Lucy. The various police officers who ran the investigation also appear as talking heads. What is unique about this new programme is that it is the first example I've seen in which some of those interviewed are replaced with AI placeholder avatars; this is to protect their anonymity. The avatars are actually not as good as they could be with the best modern animation; as if the producers want the viewers to know that they are not real. This gives the film a strange atmosphere. These visuals are, I suppose, an alternative to "blacking out" people with silhouettes. Many others are given false names. Another sad scene is when baby Zoë's mother describes her experience. The human cost of these tragedies is always stressed throughout. One of the most interesting interviews is with Maisie, a close friend of Letby who trained with her and served with her for a while at Countess. She describes a unit with a bad atmosphere because some of the other nurses were very hostile to her and Lucy. I can well believe it! Lucy was described as very shy and timid, and therefore vulnerable. I have deep understanding of this problem. Maisie was afraid for Lucy's welfare when she was given a job on the neonatal ICU. There is a long description of the trial itself from the point of view of Zoë's mother who was sitting just a few feet away in front of Lucy in Manchester Crown Court, and how Lucy kept looking at her. Lucy's reaction to some of the questions she was asked in the police interview room appears suspicious.
See here for more background: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2025/02/new-lucy-letby-panel.html.
And: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2025/07/lucy-letby-more-arrests.html.
I found a previous documentary much better, although this one has new information. I thought it left out a lot of information about the state of the neonatal unit. There have also been members of the jury who have stated that if certain evidence from the defence had been permitted they would have said not guilty. I do not know if she is guilty or not but I do feel it was an unfair trial and should not have been a guilty verdict based on the evidence provided. Her biggest downfall was the defense not being permitted to use evidence and witnesses that could have helped her
ReplyDeleteHi FO. I agree. The defence, for whatever reason, blew it. Pity they wouldn't comment on this docu. The state of the NICU is repeated across the NHS. I doubt if they set up LL as a fake culprit or NHS nurses would be going to jail every week, but it's clear they did breathe a sigh of relief when she was nicked. Since then some have been arrested for possible cororate manslaughter for their negligence.
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