Lucy Letby is the victim of the “greatest miscarriage of justice this century”, according to a former senior detective who led the investigation into notorious child killer Beverly Allitt.
Stuart Clifton, a former detective superintendent with decades of experience reviewing serious criminal cases, said he believes the former neonatal nurse is innocent of all charges. Letby, 36, is currently serving 15 whole-life sentences after being convicted in 2024 of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Clifton said he had reviewed the evidence used to convict Letby and found no persuasive proof that any of the babies were intentionally harmed. He also said there was no evidence that Letby attempted to harm the infants, and no indication that handwritten notes presented at trial amounted to a confession.
“I am totally satisfied that Lucy Letby is innocent of all charges,” he said, adding that the medical explanations for the deaths and collapses presented to the jury were incorrect. He described the case as one of the most serious miscarriages of justice in modern British legal history.
His comments come days after it was confirmed that Letby will not face further charges over additional baby deaths and collapses previously investigated by police. They also coincide with the release of a trailer for a forthcoming Netflix documentary examining her crimes, which includes footage from police interviews and testimony from senior detectives, as well as an interview with the mother of one of the victims.
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Clifton criticised the original investigation, saying it began with a dangerous assumption that criminal acts were taking place on the neonatal unit. He argued that investigators should instead have focused first on whether there was evidence to support the conclusion that the babies died as a result of criminal actions.
He noted that multiple internal and external reviews failed to find evidence of criminality, and said the only forensic suggestion of deliberate harm involved high insulin readings in two babies, which he argued were insufficient to prove intent.
Letby’s prosecution relied heavily on expert medical opinion that the babies had been deliberately harmed, but Clifton said his review found no medical evidence supporting that conclusion. Cheshire Police and the hospital involved declined to comment on the claims.
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