What new detail revealed in Netflix's Lucy Letby documentary is 'tricky to defend' for supporters of the killer nurse?
In an exclusive follow-up to the Daily Mail's award-winning The Trial of Lucy Letby podcast, hosts Liz Hull and Caroline Cheetham are joined by veteran court reporter Kim Pilling to examine new information revealed in Netflix's Letby documentary.Hull, Cheetham and Pilling reported extensively on Letby's 2023 trial and her 2024 retrial, with Pilling attending every day of the ten-month proceedings at Manchester Crown Court.Both trials produced the same outcome, with the neonatal nurse found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others between June 2015 and June 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital. The now 36-year-old was sentenced to 15 whole-life orders.This week, Netflix released a new documentary charting Letby's crimes. The film features never-before-seen footage from the day of the nurse's final arrest and subsequent police interviews. In an exclusive follow-up to The Trial of Lucy Letby podcast, hosts Liz Hull and Caroline Cheetham are joined by veteran court reporter Kim Pilling (pictured) to examine new information revealed in Netflix's Letby documentary. The Netflix film features never-before-seen footage from the day of the nurse's final arrest and subsequent police interviews Liz Hull (L), Caroline Cheetham (R) and Kim Pilling reported extensively on Letby's 2023 trial and her 2024 retrialThe documentary comes as a growing number of high-profile commentators contest Letby's convictions. These voices have been emboldened by the nurse's new defence team, led by barrister Mark McDonald, who appears in Netflix's The Investigation of Lucy Letby.Despite claims that details in the documentary support arguments that Letby is the victim of a massive miscarriage of justice, Hull, Cheetham and Pilling reveal how a deep understanding of the prosecution's case tells a very different story.One scene from the new documentary sees police reveal for the first time that Letby had horded 250 of her shift handover sheets, some stored under her bed in chronological order in a box marked 'keep'.The sheets formed a significant part of the non-medical evidence used by the prosecution at trial. Nurses are not permitted to keep these documents as they contain confidential patient information.The prosecution alleged Letby had deliberately taken the documents home to hide anomalies in her care of vulnerable babies.In the documentary, police reveal how Letby's evasive answers about the handover sheets raised immediate red flags during interrogation.
This week, Netflix released a new documentary charting Letby's crimes. The film features never-before-seen footage from the day of the nurse's final arrest and subsequent police interviews'The handover sheets featured quite early on in the documentary. I think it was an area where police felt Letby's answers weren't stacking up,' Pilling told the Trial Plus podcast.'Here she was, taking home 250 handover sheets containing confidential records of children on the ward, which she wasn't supposed to do, and her answer was: I didn't know how to dispose of them, I don't own a shredder.'As it turns out, she did own a shredder. So it was an interesting answer.'Host Hull added: 'We heard that at the trial. A couple of the nurses were asked: "Did you ever take home a handover sheet?" They said yes, occasionally, but they would always get rid of them at home or bring them back and put them in the confidential waste on their next shift.'The documentary shows that Letby didn't just take the handover notes home. She put them in a box marked keep. The police say they were organised in chronological order. I don't think we ever heard that at trial.'Pilling argued that this type of non-medical evidence has largely been absent from media coverage of the Letby case since her conviction, leaving space for claims about her innocence to flourish.'I don't see much coverage of the handover sheets,' the court reporter said.'From a defence point of view, they're tricky to defend. Quite sensibly, Ben Myers and his team at the trial did not spend much time on them because they appear to be a weakness in their argument.'To hear The Trial team's full breakdown of the new Letby documentary, subscribe to The Crime Desk today. Members gain exclusive access to the Trial Plus podcast, ad-free listening and a host of other benefits.
