Memory box, memory of doubt: families recount Letby case in new documentary

On August 21, 2023, Lucy Letby was sentenced to 14 life sentences, the most ever handed to a single defendant in a case involving the harm of infants in Britain. Her conviction in court followed two trials in which she was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more, in what prosecutors called a calculated campaign during her time as a neonatal nurse at Countess of Chester Hospital. The verdicts and the police mugshot that accompanied coverage dominated screens across the country as families and clinicians processed the implications of the case.

In Chester, one mother and father recount a moment that still gnaws at them. Their seven-year-old son, born in 2015 during Letby’s ominous period on the neonatal unit, saw Letby’s image on television and asked tearfully: “Is that the naughty nurse who tried to kill me?” The couple, who have chosen to speak publicly only in the new Channel 4 documentary Conviction, describe a sequence of unsettling events around the boy’s birth and early days in special care. He arrived full term after a healthy pregnancy, only to be whisked away for monitoring of his breathing, and he soon suffered unexplained collapses that required resuscitation on three occasions. Doctors were unable to explain the episodes, but the anxiety of those days left a lasting impression on the family.

During the frightening period around their son’s collapse, a nurse delivered a memory box to the parents. Inside was their child’s name band, a woolly hat and a blanket. The moment the box was placed in their hands, they feared their child might have died, and the nurse unexpectedly laughed. “I just saw the box and I burst into tears, I remember saying, ‘Oh my God is he dead?’ and she just laughed,” the mother recalls. Only later did they realize the nurse had been Letby. The memory box, the family notes, became a stark and haunting symbol of the era on the unit. When the investigation later focused on Letby, the couple learned that concerns about a spike in deaths on the ward had already surfaced to hospital leadership, including suspicions raised privately by Dr Stephen Brearey, the lead clinician at the time.

Brearey, who privately questioned Letby’s role in the pattern of patient deaths, urged that the baby be moved to Liverpool Women’s Hospital for management. The family’s son was transferred to Liverpool and recovered quickly there, treated for jaundice and in an incubator. The parents say that Liverpool Women’s did not do anything that Chester could not have done, and they credit the transfer with saving their son’s life. The mother reflects on the moment, acknowledging the difficulty of accepting a medical explanation when hospital staff themselves expressed concern. “They were telling us they didn’t know the reason or know what was wrong,” she says, describing a period of uncertainty about the cause of his deterioration. The couple’s praise for Dr. Brearey is tempered by lingering questions about why concerns were not escalated sooner and by a sense of relief that their son survived.

Conviction, the Channel 4 documentary, follows the main protagonists involved in Letby’s long-running case and opens in the aftermath of her convictions for killing seven babies and attempting to murder seven more. It also tracks the fall-out of the juries’ verdicts and the high-profile effort by Letby’s new legal team to challenge the outcomes. Mark McDonald, Letby’s new barrister, appears prominently, arguing that her convictions were unsafe and should be referred to the Court of Appeal. The film also features Dr Dewi Evans, the lead prosecution expert who has faced criticism but remains convinced of Letby’s guilt.

The documentary highlights how the case has continued to unfold in public life, including the involvement of a panel of experts assembled to re-examine the evidence. In one notable segment, McDonald publicly delivered reports to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), arguing for an appeal. The program questions the independence of some experts, noting that some were recruited by panel lead Dr Shoo Lee, a neonatologist from Canada, and that an email suggested there was an agenda to secure Letby’s release. The film portrays the tension between the families and Letby’s supporters, some of whom have spoken publicly about the case, while others argue the hospital’s care decisions and the investigations to date have not fully addressed the concerns of bereaved families.

For the families featured in Conviction, the emotional toll has extended beyond the courtroom. The couple’s son has faced ongoing health challenges, including periods of behavioral difficulties and, by age nine, seizures that can be described as severe. They say these health issues have left them wondering whether the events surrounding his birth might be connected to his later life, though they do not attribute causation with certainty. The parents emphasize their desire to tell the truth for their son’s sake, balancing honesty with the need to shield him from fear. The father says he remains convinced of Letby’s guilt, while the mother notes how difficult it is to reconcile conflicting voices surrounding the case and to navigate the public spotlight that continues to surround Letby’s story.

Conviction is scheduled for cinema release and will be broadcast on Channel 4 on September 29 under the title Lucy Letby: Murder or Mistake. The documentary features the couple’s testimony alongside interviews with clinicians who treated the infants, colleagues who worked on the ward, and legal experts who have followed the case for years. The film’s producers say they aimed to provide a candid account of the trauma experienced by families, the hospital’s response to concerns raised during Letby’s tenure, and the broader questions about how such a tragedy could unfold within a hospital setting.

The government and legal authorities have continued to scrutinize hospital governance in the wake of the Letby case. Three former executives from Countess of Chester Hospital have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in connections with the investigation into the deaths. The charges reflect continuing concerns about whether hospital leadership adequately responded to early warnings and whether patient safety protocols were followed. For many families whose children were born at the Countess, the memory box and the fear it embodies persist as a symbol of a period when the hospital’s routines were overshadowed by suspicion and grief. The documentary notes that there are as many as 100 families in Cheshire and North Wales who share similar questions about what happened to their children and why prosecutions did not proceed in their cases.

As Conviction unfolds, the families voice a mix of gratitude for the life saved, and anger or doubt about institutional accountability. The mother who spoke to the documentary team says she refuses to be cowed by the notoriety of Letby’s case and insists on telling the truth to her son in a way that is age-appropriate. She compares the decision to explain the threat to her son to a popular story, saying, “he is kind of like Harry Potter, and she is Voldemort, and he survived just like Harry did.” In her view, the case underscores the importance of vigilance in hospital care and the need for transparency when concerns are raised about patient safety.

The film’s release contributes to a wider public conversation about neonatal care, patient safety, and the long shadows cast by high-profile criminal cases on families, clinicians, and hospital staff. Conviction: The Case of Lucy Letby is in cinemas and will be screened as Lucy Letby: Murder or Mistake on Channel 4 on September 29, offering a comprehensive, if unsettling, glimpse into the human dimensions behind the statistics of a high-profile health crisis.