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Unmasking Lucy Letby

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Unmasking Lucy Letby

By: Jonathan Coffey, Judith Moritz
Narrated by: Jonathan Coffey, Judith Moritz
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Winner of BEST NEW AUTHOR at THE TRUE CRIME AWARDS 2025
Highly commended for BOOK OF THE YEAR at THE TRUE CRIME AWARDS 2025
Shortlisted for THE ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION at the 2025 CWA DAGGERS

'Diligent and absorbing' Gaby Hinsliff, Guardian
'Meticulous and unexpectedly gripping' Janice Turner, The Times

*AS SEEN ON BBC'S PANORAMA*

In June 2015 babies started dying unexpectedly on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital. As medics searched desperately for answers, lead consultant Dr Steve Brearey emailed the ward manager to say, 'We still need to talk about Lucy.'

Several years have passed since then and Letby is now in jail. And yet the doctor's words continue to hold true. Despite her convictions and an extensive public inquiry, there are more questions now about Letby than ever - and they aren't going away. So who is the real Lucy Letby? What convinced senior medics and the police that she was killing babies? And were they right - or could her convictions be a miscarriage of justice, as some now believe?

Drawing on extensive interviews with people who knew and worked with her, as well as unrivalled access to documents and key players in her case, this book traces the story of Letby from primary school to prison, and grapples with the truth about one of the most high-profile murder cases in living memory.

'An excellent and open-minded study of the case' Peter Hitchens
'An extraordinary piece of work, and one that should be essential reading for anyone thinking of voicing strong opinions on the subject' Tristan Kirk, The London Standard©2024 Jonathan Coffey and Judith Moritz Murder True Crime Crime Exciting Thought-Provoking
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This book gives a balanced and in depth look at the Letby case. It is quite science heavy in places due to the nature of the crimes, it is also a little repetitive in places. But it kept my interest and offered some food for thought.

In depth look

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Loved it from start to finish! I have no idea what I can read next that will compare!

Gripping

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Really thorough, professional, engaging account of the Letby case.

Whilst I think she is guilty of the crimes she has been sentenced for, and more, this book really explained the questions regarding the 'reasonable doubt' questions surrounding the case.

Excellent Account

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fair and accurate account of events well told.Narration by author's laid out well.... giving a good sense of the story.

well done..

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As a retired defence lawyer, I never paid attention to the reporting of criminal cases in the media, as in my experience only by being in court could you fully understand the evidence, the manner in which it was given & the challenges to it .

I listened to this book in the knowledge that one of the authors had sat through the trial and both had the BBC journalism kite marks for objectivity and well researched reporting .

They cover all aspects of the case but perhaps try too hard to appear fair & comprehensive .

From experience I would state the following :
1- circumstantial evidence properly connected can be compelling in its entirely notwithstanding individual parts may appear to be remote .

2- Expert evidence is essentially opinion evidence on facts and in this case the facts were more often than not, complex. Experts invariably disagree and the jury need to consider which opinions if any they accept as reliable.

3-In a case like this, the absence of alternative expert evidence from the defence was damning . Challenging or contesting expert witnesses does not create evidence & the jury clearly still thought that the crown experts evidence was reliable enough to remove any reasonable doubt.

4-The absence of motive is not necessarily a critical weakness in the crown case .If sufficient other evidence accepted by the jury is indicative of her guilt then proof of motive isn’t essential. Indeed the jury heard defence arguments pointing out the absence of motive and still convicted .

5- Letby gave evidence and clearly prevaricated & lied at times. It’s not hard to say you didn’t do something but a lot harder to explain contradictory statements made by you & other incriminating circumstances implicating you .

The book was a sufficient indicator to me that she received a fair trial and the jury took great and discriminate care in delivering overwhelming guilty verdicts .

Any appellate court will need extraordinary persuasion to overturn such a verdict after a 10 month trial with every aspect of the evidence subject to testing .

Fresh differing expert opinion unless accepted as scientific certainty is unlikely to succeed especially as there were multiple areas of expertise & an array of other supporting circumstances.

However an excellent audio book on a very complex subject matter

The depth of research & the objectivity

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