The Royal Statistical Society has expressed concern about the safety of the conviction of Lucy Letby for murdering seven infants. Offers of statistical evidence have been declined by the Thirlwall Inquiry.

 

This talk will present the eight recommendations made in a report published in 2022 by the RSS Statistics and the Law section. The statistical issues will be demonstrated with references to several instances of doctors or nurses associated with clusters of deaths. The Court of Appeal Judgement on R v Letby will be evaluated against the recommendations.

Further joint educational activities by legal and statistical communities are necessary to improve understanding and systems of justice. Some lawyers consider their definitions of evidence as unique. Legal evidence and argument will be contrasted with statistical inference and evidence.