Letby Trial Jury Deliberations Continue into Second Week

The jury in the trial of Lucy Letby will continue its deliberations into a second week.

The jury of eight women and four men has spent 25 hours poring over the thousands of pages of written evidence and hundreds of hours of live evidence presented during the ten month trial.

Letby, a 33-year-old neonatal nurse from Hereford, stands accused of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of ten more. In total there are 22 counts on the indictment, as Letby is accused of attempting to murder some of the babies on more than one occasion.

The seventeen babies were being cared for on the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital, at the time of the alleged offences.

Social media is abuzz with chatter about when the jury will return its verdicts. Indeed there seems surprise in certain quarters that deliberations have taken as long as they have. The jury has an immense task before it. It is difficult to imagine the weight of responsibility bearing down on its members' shoulders, facing undoubtedly the most important decision they have ever made.

At stake is Letby's future liberty. The allegations in this case, if proven, are so horrific that Mr Justice Goss will undoubtedly take the view that life must mean life. That will be an exceptionally long and arduous sentence for a young woman with an active mind. The jury has to get it right.

As it stands at the moment, the jury must carefully consider each of the 22 counts on the indictment and reach unanimous consensus on each. The bar needed to reach that unanimous consensus is, quite rightly, very high.

If, in considering each count, the jury is not sure of Letby's guilt then it must acquit. The jury could find her guilty on some counts, but acquit her on others. Alternatively, she could be convicted on all 22 counts, or acquitted on all 22.

The jury will not return its verdicts until all 22 counts have been considered and decided, which could take a considerable while longer considering the enormity of the task and level of confidence needed to make each decision.

There is no smoking gun in this case. The only forensic evidence of any significance is the fact that an abnormally high amount of synthetic insulin was found in the bloodstream of child F, who Letby is accused of attempting to murder. This is a case where the jury will need to draw its conclusions by weighing up probabilities. The probability needed to convict is very high, but it falls short of absolute certainty.

Unanimous verdicts is still the preferred option, but eventually the time will come when Mr Justice Goss will direct that majority verdicts will be acceptable. I would expect such a direction to be made towards the end of next week if the jury has been unable to reach a unanimous consensus by then. As all 12 jurors have lasted the distance, a majority verdict requires a vote of either 10-2 or 11-1.

Deliberations resume at 10.30 am on Monday, 17th July 2023.

Update (19/7/23): Due to illness, the jury did not deliberate on 17th-19th July 2023.

Update (20/7/23): Due to continuing juror illness, deliberations will not take place at all this week. They are now expected to resume on Monday, 24th July 2023.