Lucy Letby- why is the CCRC cherry picking evidence?
The ‘Thirlwall’ Report has just been published. Comment in the Press suggests that the consensus of opinion among journalists is that it has done Lucy Letby no favours in the sense that what some perceive as negative information about Lucy Letby is contained within the report.
On Saturday 19th September The Times newspaper quoted Dame Vera Baird thus:
“Dame Vera Baird, who chairs the commission, told the BBC that it would be looking closely at the inquiry report with interest to assess whether it has any bearing on its review”.
The Thirlwall Inquiry examined what happened at the Countess of Chester Hospital during the period in which former neonatal nurse Lucy Letby allegedly committed murders and attempted murders of babies. The report focuses on management practices and systemic failings, and it was assumed by Thirlwall that Letby’s convictions were ‘safe’.
The report reconstructs events on the neonatal unit, including the deaths and collapses of multiple babies.
Findings are made on the balance of probabilities, based on evidence from staff, parents, and expert reviews.
Why is the CCRC looking closely at a report that has no bearing on the court case that convicted Lucy Letby of murders, which Letby is asking the CCRC to refer to the Court of Appeal (CoA)? The Court of Appeal, in theory, has no authority to take into account the Thirlwall Enquiry in judging the merits of Letby’s case if it proceeds to the CoA.
What Dame Vera has indicated is that the CCRC is prepared to spend time looking at an irrelevant 900 page report (Thirlwall), but it is not prepared to consider a 50 page report that demonstrates the innocence of Jeremy Bamber by highlighting numerous wounds inflicted on the three adult victims at White House Farm (WHF) by Sheila Caffell.
Indeed, the CCRC is not prepared, even after the passage of over 25 years, to examine the case files of DCI Thomas (Taff) Jones, who concluded that Sheila Caffell was responsible for the deaths at WHF.
Neither will the CCRC examine the case files of DCI James Kenneally who reached the same conclusion as Taff Jones – Sheila Caffell killed her family.
The CCRC was not prepared to interview a crucial witness who emerged in 2024. Ex-policeman Nick Milbank, now deceased, who admitted to Heidi Blake in July 2024 that he received a 999 call from White House Farm (WHF) at 06:09 on 7th August 1985. The CCRC were asked to meet with Milbank urgently to hear from him his version of events, but in the nine months remaining before he died of cancer they failed to see him or speak to him.
The CCRC has also failed to interview Police Officers PC1902 Paul Stanley Cracknell and PC1930 Robin Raymond Norcup. They have, in effect, been ‘disappeared’ by Essex Police, their crucial involvement in the case of Jeremy Bamber erased, because they know the truth about who telephoned PC Michael West at Chelmsford Police Station at 03:26 that morning – it was almost certainly Nevill Bamber, not Jeremy Bamber. Nevill Bamber, still alive at 03:26 which destroys the prosecution case against Jeremy Bamber, so Cracknell and Norcup have effectively been removed from the scenario. This has been pointed out to the CCRC and the CCRC have done nothing to find and interview these important witnesses.
Thus, Dame Vera, for all that she has pledged to change the CCRC, is complicit in yet another ‘cherry-picking’ exercise being conducted by whomever is perusing the Letby submission.
Additionally, she is lending support to critics who accuse the CCRC of being biased in favour of the prosecution. It does appear that the CCRC is very willing to consider any evidence that supports the prosecution case, but wilfully and deliberately refuses to consider any evidence that supports the innocence of an applicant.
Thus, Dame Vera is just as culpable as her predecessor in denying access to the CoA even when evidence suggests that a wrongful conviction has occurred.
By Bill Robertson
Bill Robertson has researched alleged miscarriages of justice for around 20 years and advised on several cases, including the most recent application to the CCRC by Jeremy Bamber.
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