Casework in the Media

The Wilmslow Murders

The Lucy Letby Case

The Betting Shop Murder

The Llangolman Deaths

The Lucy Letby Case

I was the first person in Cheshire Police to review the 'spike' in baby deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester, that had occurred between June 2015 and 2016.

In early May 2017, I had just been promoted to Cheshire's Senior Coroner's Officer. The police asked me to attend a Gold Group meeting about a letter that had been received by the Countess of Chester Hospital. I was given the directive to review all baby deaths at COCH during 2015-2016 and to conclude if the causes of their deaths had been sufficiently explained. I had less than three hours to conduct this review...

My Key Observations

• During my review I found that the causes of deaths for all babies appeared to be natural causes, where the only common factor between some of the babies was 'prematurity'

• However, I identified there appeared to be gaps in a least two of the post mortems, and I concluded to the police that in my opinion, the causes of deaths for the babies were not sufficiently explained

• I was later informed that my review was one of the key reasons for the commencement of the police investigation Operation Hummingbird

• But since Lucy Letby's trial, I have seen a number of red flags which suggest to me that this is an unsafe conviction

I decided that it was in the public interest to raise my concerns about this case, especially as my review had likely played a role in one of the worst miscarriages of justice we have ever seen

The Guardian, July 2025

Channel 4 News, July 2025

Mention in Private Eye Article, Aug 2025

Live YouTube Interview with Sonia Poulton, Aug 2025

YouTube Interview with @LLAnalysis, Sept 2025

CURRENT STATUS OF THIS CASE:

As at September 2025; Lucy remains in prison, pending a review by the CCRC

The Wilmslow Murders

Cheshire, 1996 & 1999

Books:

• The Hunt for the Silver Killer, David Collins

News Articles:

• The Sunday Times article that broke the story, August 2020

• Guardian article, August 2020

• The Mill "The Police weren't looking for a serial killer, but suddenly I was", May 2022

• Sunday Times Book Review, May 2022

• Sunday Times follow-up article, May 2022

My Key Observations

• The blood pattern distributions at both crime scenes were consistent with the males lying down on the marital bed when their wives were murdered

• Both males were subjected to injuries that were not consistent with suicide

• Both scenes had signs of deliberate staging, designed to fool the police

• The females were left with their nightdresses pulled up, exposing their genitalia

• The left arms of the females were repositioned so their wedding rings were on show

• Both back doors were left unlocked

• Both couples were devoted to each other, were not in ill-health and had no motive to prematurely end their lives - in such violent manners

Podcasts:

• Insight Investigation: The Curious Case of the Cheshire Killings

• Stories of Our Times: Hunt for the Silver Killer (Part 1)

• Stories of Our Times: Hunt for the Silver Killer (Part 2)

• The Cheshire Serial Killer

• The Cheshire Serial Killer Revisited (Part 1)

• The Cheshire Serial Killer Revisited (Part 2)

CURRENT STATUS OF THIS CASE:

As at September 2025; Cheshire Police still refuse to investigate the substantiated concerns that I raised with them, insisting that the cases are 'still murder-suicides'

The Betting Shop Murder,

Liverpool, 1981

I was introduced to Ray via a mutual contact. He needed help to prove he did not commit a murder in Liverpool in 1981. In total he spent 36 years in prison.

At first I didn't think I could assist him, because this appeared to be a 'straight-forward' murder and I was not an expert in police procedures during the 1980s. I had thousands of pages of documents to read and digest before I knew if I could help him. Ray had applied six times previously to the CCRC - but each time he had the door to the Court of Appeal slammed shut in his face.

It was only when I read his confession statements and when I saw the crime scene photos that I realised what had actually happened...

My Key Observations

• The death scene had been misinterpreted, and the official accepted sequence of events was likely erroneous

• There were signs of crime scene staging at the scene, where a targeted murder was made to look like a theft gone wrong

• Somehow this death scene misinterpretation ended up in a vulnerable suspect's confession

• Due to this misinterpretation, the original suspect pool was far too narrow - it focused only on suspects with a history of theft

• There were aspects at the death scene and the post mortem pathology that were inconsistent with the confessions that Ray had given to the police

• The CCRC missed earlier opportunities to conduct a thorough forensic review

YouTube Interview with Shaun Attwood, Nov 2023

ITV1 Granada Reports, June 2025

Liverpool Echo, April 2025

CURRENT STATUS OF THIS CASE:

As at September 2025; We're awaiting a review by the CCRC

Liverpool Echo, July 2025

The Llangolman Deaths, Pembrokeshire, 1976

Considering these deaths occurred nearly 50 years ago, I was incredibly impressed with the detailed police and forensic investigation - in fact it was superior to some of the more recent cases I had reviewed.

The death scene presented an incredibly confusing picture, and I can understand why investigators had difficulty establishing what had happened at this scene. At the time, this case was closed as a 'murder-suicide' or a 'murder-accident'. It was assumed that Mr. Thomas had murdered his sister and either took his own life, or accidentally died when he set fire to the property.

In my review, I disagreed with this conclusion...

My Key Observations

• The offender was likely not deemed to be a threat, having arrived at the house whilst Miss Thomas was at home alone

• Mr. Thomas returned home from the shops and potentially interrupted the offender

• Weapons of opportunity were used, rather than weapons being brought to the scene by the offender

• The scene indicated chaos and panic, where the deaths were likely an unintended outcome

• Mr. Thomas was likely also a murder victim, given the injuries that he had sustained, the amount of his blood that was shed at the scene, and that there was none of his sister's blood transferred onto him

• There were two attempted seats of fire - indicating that the aim of the fire was to destroy evidence (as opposed to a suicide method)

S4C Documentary, July 2025

CURRENT STATUS OF THIS CASE:

As at September 2025; We are awaiting the outcome of Dyfed Powys Police Review