'The Investigation of Lucy Letby' is dominating the headlines and topping the Netflix charts. Amid the renewed attention on the controversial case, let us revisit Lucy Letby's trial.
Lucy Letby was once described as a friendly and helpful neonatal nurse posted at the Countess of Chester Hospital, England. That outlook changed completely when she was arrested under suspicion of killing eight newborn babies in her care, along with the attempted murder of numerous more. She was officially labelled one of England's most prolific child serial killers in history.
Three years after Lucy Letby's verdict stunned the UK and beyond, the case continues to grab attention, not only for the absence of motivation behind the killings, but also for a recurring question: Is Lucy Letby really guilty, or is her conviction a case of the "miscarriage of justice"?
Netflix premiered its latest true-crime documentary, The Investigation of Lucy Letby, on February 4, 2026, making it at least the fifth documentary on the neonatal nurse, through new testimonies, never-before-seen footage, and previously unheard insider accounts from hospital staff and investigators. Amid the renewed attention on the controversial case, let us revisit Lucy Letby's trial and why many believe she was wrongfully convicted.
Lucy Victoria Letby was born on January 4, 1990, in Hereford, Herefordshire, England. She is a 36-year-old British national, the only child of John and Susan Letby, and was deeply loved. From an early age, she developed an interest in science and biology and a passion for animals. She was a bright and quiet student when she attended St. James’ Church of England Primary School and then the Bishop of Hereford’s Bluecoat School. She pursued a career in nursing and enrolled at the University of Chester in 2008.
Lucy Letby earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 2011 and later completed postgraduate training in Neonatal Intensive Care in 2013. By all outward measures, Letby appeared to be a dedicated professional, often praised for her clinical skills and commitment to her work. Between 2011 and 2016, she worked at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital. During her time at the hospital, Lucy was involved in research projects, fundraising efforts, and charity runs, and was known for having a good rapport with both parents and the babies in her care. However, prosecutors later argued that this professional image masked a far darker reality.
Lucy was first arrested in July 2018, arrested twice more during the investigation, and formally charged in November 2020. She was found guilty of killing seven infants between 2015 and 2016, including five boys and two girls, while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital. A total of 17 cases were examined in her trial, out of which seven were tagged as murder and the remaining ten as attempts to murder. Prosecutors alleged that Lucy Letby harmed these newborns using methods like air injection, insulin poisoning, and overfeeding with milk or fluids.
After a 10-month trial, Lucy Letby was found guilty on August 18, 2023, of 15 out of 22 charges. At the time, the jury was unable to reach a verdict on several counts of attempted murder. One of those cases, involving an infant identified as 'Child K', went to retrial in July 2024, resulting in another conviction and Letby receiving her 15th life sentence.
Despite being convicted of the murders, Lucy Letby stood firm in her stance, repeatedly mentioning she hadn't harmed any child. In one of her initial interviews with the investigators shown in the Netflix documentary, the former nurse breaks down in tears as she says:
"I feel like I have only ever done my best for those babies."
Lucy Letby's defense has repeatedly pointed to broader issues that trace back to the hospital itself, including staffing shortages and poor sanitation. Letby herself suggested in her interviews that there were plumbing problems in the hospital, such as sewage backing up into sinks, which could very well have contributed to infections among vulnerable newborns. The jury, however, rejected those explanations.
Lucy Letby was accused of deliberately harming and killing infants using multiple methods, while attempting to conceal her actions by removing confidential nursing handover sheets and falsifying patient records. Suspicion grew as infant deaths on the unit rose sharply. However, experts like Defense Barrister Mark McDonald, Dr. Shoo Lee, and 14 members of the International Panel of Neonatologists and Paediatricians are standing by Lucy Letby, concluding there was "no medical evidence" to support the claims of malfeasance or murder.
Regarding Lucy's presence in all cases of infant deaths in the unit, which was a key argument of the prosecutors, the defense argues she had done some additional courses, which naturally made her more qualified for severe cases, and she was often given the sickest babies to deal with. According to Lucy's barrister, Mark McDonald:
"One of the most compelling parts of the prosecution case... was the rota that had x's down for the whole column... she [Lucy] was always there... but we know this was a very small unit, and she did extra shifts... [she] was more qualified than many of the nurses that worked on the unit, which meant that she got the sickest babies... it seems to me, it would be odd if she wasn't there when something went wrong."
Over time, a growing number of experts have questioned how the evidence in Lucy Letby's case was interpreted. Some of the key pieces of evidence, including Lucy's Post-it notes and mini meltdowns over work stress with texts to friends, were initially interpreted as her confession of crimes. In some of her scribbles, the nurse had described herself as a "horrible evil person" and not "good enough". Some of them had the words "m*rder", "k*ll me", and "help", which Letby didn't want to comment on in her interviews.
The infamous Post-it notes and diary entries, some of which were shown in the Netflix series, are argued to have been interpreted differently. Mark McDonald argued that the notes and texts were clear signs of poor mental health, overwork, and stress of having to work without a break to nurse critical care babies in an understaffed unit with poor working conditions. Alongside phrases like "I am evil" and "I did this", there were assertions like "I am innocent", a stark contrast.
Lucy Letby’s defense and several experts have argued that the Post-it notes were not confessions but reflections of severe psychological distress. In the Netflix documentary, barrister Mark McDonald said the writings were chaotic, fragmented, and consistent with therapeutic exercises encouraged during counseling. He described the prosecution’s focus on select phrases as a “Texas Sharpshooter fallacy,” arguing they ignored the wider context of Letby’s mental collapse and institutional failures.