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06 June 2025 / David Walbank KC
Issue: 8119 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Criminal , Media
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Crime brief: 6 June 2025

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Can a retrial be fair when a conviction has been at the centre of a media storm? David Walbank KC considers the Lucy Letby case
  • Trial for murder and attempted murder.
  • Media comment after guilty verdicts.
  • Fairness of retrial.

Rarely in modern English criminal history can charges of murder most foul have generated so many column inches or such lurid headlines as in the case of Lucy Letby. The acres of coverage in the print media are matched only by the constant replaying on our television screens of the bodycam footage showing the moments after her arrest. And that is nothing when compared with the deluge of analysis, comment and speculation that continues to engulf social media.

It is not hard to see why. If Lucy Letby did what she is accused of, can there ever have been a more merciless campaign of indiscriminate killing, waged by the very person to whom those poor, defenceless infants and their grief-stricken parents were entitled to look for care

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A seemingly dry procedural update may prove potent. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold explains that new CPR 31.12A—part of the 193rd update—fills a ‘lacuna’ exposed in McLaren Indy v Alpa Racing
NLJ this week: Court of Appeals wrestles with Mazur fallout
The long-running Mazur saga edged towards its finale as the Court of Appeal heard arguments on whether non-solicitors can ‘conduct litigation’. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School reports from a packed courtroom where 16 wigs watched Nick Bacon KC argue that Mr Justice Sheldon had failed to distinguish between ‘tasks and responsibilities’
NLJ this week: Appeal court reins in ‘wrong defendant’ switcheroo

The Court of Appeal has slammed the brakes on claimants trying to swap defendants after limitation has expired. In Adcamp LLP v Office Properties and BDB Pitmans v Lee [2026] EWCA Civ 50, it overturned High Court rulings that had allowed substitutions under s 35(6)(b) of the Limitation Act 1980, reports Sarah Crowther of DAC Beachcroft in this week's NLJ

NLJ this week: Driving test fraudsters steer towards jail
Cheating in driving tests is surging—and courts are responding firmly. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort Law School charts a rise in impersonation and tech-assisted fraud, with 2,844 attempts recorded in a year
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As AI-generated ‘deepfake’ images proliferate, the law may already have the tools to respond. In NLJ this week, Jon Belcher of Excello Law argues that such images amount to personal data processing under UK GDPR
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