I followed the trial, every single day, as well as following thirlwall. I will admit I didn’t follow the Baby E retrial, since I was already aware of the case. The “omg, she did it” switch never flicked for me. The simple fact is, I was left with too many unanswered questions to make a a reliable judgment. I said it again and again while the evidence was being heard, look for guilt and you will see it, look for innocence and you will see it. If you accept there was a serial killer on the ward, then it is clear and obvious it was Letby. She was there for all of them, and had some odd behaviours.
But there is nothing about Letby, in anything that’s been reported, that makes me think she was capable of this. That is not to say there isn’t anything. She could have course be a Shipman. (Although, we’ll never know what a Shipman with internet access would’ve looked like.)
Because the “omg, she did it” switch never flicked, I do not feel the hatred towards her that I feel for every other person convicted of harming a child. I’m not a true crime fan, my entire life I’ve followed a handful of other cases, typically of parents killing their children. It’s an unfathomable crime, and I feel a sense of duty to the children whose lives have been cut so tragically short, to hear their stories. And whenever I think of them, I take a moment to acknowledge them and their memory. I don’t even bother to remember the names of the scum who killed them, and certainly wouldn’t seek out information about them. I would feel offended to read about others doubting their guilt.
In a way I’d prefer to believe that Letby is an evil baby killer. Because it would be easier than the limbo. If I was on the jury I’d have maintained that it wasn’t beyond reasonable doubt.
For all we know this jury was 50/50 down the middle until it eventually pushed in one direction, helped along with the insulin cases apparently being proven 100%, albeit with ‘Nostradamus levels of prediction’. We only have to watch that Channel 4 show The Jury to see how things shift during deliberations. And this jury had months of headlines everywhere