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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Lifestyle
India Block

Why are armchair sleuths so obsessed with true crime cases like Lucy Letby’s?

Clockwise from bottom left: Jay Slater, Nicola Bulley, Lucy Letby and Gabby Petito - (ES)

Lucy Letby is a convicted serial killer serving a life sentence. The Thirlwell Inquiry (due to conclude early 2025) is currently investigating how an NHS nurse was able to murder at least seven babies and attempt to murder seven more. 

But if you spend any time online, Letby’s guilt/innocence is very much an active topic of debate. The idea that this could all be a terrible miscarriage of justice is not just fringe belief held by kooks and conspiracy theorists. David Davis – a knighted former cabinet member – went on GB News to claim he was “90-odd per cent certain” Letby was innocent.

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