Welcome to the October 2026 newsletter.
In comparison to last month, this month has been a fairly quiet one. But rather than just chunter on about all of the things that can’t be changed, I thought we could instead have a look at what we know is still to come further down the line and also a couple of things we can possibly influence going forward.
Legal Aftermath and Wider Investigations
With the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) upholding its decision not to bring any further charges against Lucy in August and the Thirlwall Inquiry finally publishing its report last month, you could be forgiven for thinking that is the end of operations until we hear back from Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
But that is not the case and there is still a fair bit of mileage to be squeezed out of the whole debacle yet.
- Hospital Management Investigations
The police investigation into the senior leadership at the Countess of Chester Hospital (CoCH), known as Operation Duet, is still currently looking at whether or not three former senior managers are criminally responsible for gross negligence manslaughter regarding their response to the spike in baby deaths in 2015 and 2016.
They all remain on police bail, with one of whom being re-arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. There has been plenty of guesswork as to who the individuals in question are but officially they remain unnamed. Cheshire Police have stated that there is no set timeline for the conclusion of the probe.
It’s important to bear in mind that all of the possible outcomes of their decision will have no direct impact on Lucy’s convictions. But what could happen with a trial is the possibility of new light being shone on what was really going on at the hospital in those 13 chaotic months and that is something we should all welcome.
- New Inquests
After being opened and adjourned in February this year, the new inquests are scheduled to commence on 10 May 2027. The delay was to simply avoid overlapping with the Thirlwall Inquiry’s findings after a series of pushbacks.
The hearings will operate under strict anonymity, although Lucy has been given “interested person” status in the proceedings.
The scope of the inquest is to focus strictly on formally re-recording the causes of death of the six infants who originally had death certificates listing natural causes and unexplained.
As someone who has remained incredibly obedient to the legal frameworks surrounding the case, I have to say this makes me absolutely furious! It is nothing more than an exercise to rewrite history and change an established fact that clearly still eats away at Lucy’s accusers.
No amount of Tipp-Ex and editing can EVER change what the original pathologists saw with their own eyes, which was nothing pointing to malfeasance. This is not justice for the affected families, it is an underhand double down by the establishment - end of!
- CCRC Decision
The CCRC are currently conducting a review of the submissions filed by Lucy’s legal team. If they find what they class as “fresh evidence” that was NOT available at the time of the original trial and it presents a "real possibility" that the Court of Appeal (CoA) would not uphold the conviction, then there is no reason why they won’t refer the case.
Despite the usual YouTube armchair expert predictions, there is no fixed date for this decision but it is likely to be a lot further north of any of the La-La Land claims being circulated. The painfully slow review system impacts all applicants and no one is an exception to the process they follow. It’s very frustrating but it’s just a plain matter of fact!
We must continually remind ourselves that this is a marathon not a sprint and there are no shortcuts or legal loopholes. The success of the application rests almost entirely on how watertight the submissions are. All we can do as campaigners is help to supplement the application by keeping Lucy in the public eye with positive, respectful and truthful actions.
For more information on the powers and practices the CCRC operates under, please click on the link below from their official website:
https://ccrc.gov.uk/our-powers-practices/
CoCH Inquiry
With the Thirlwall Inquiry at last over and done with, the Yellow Butterfly Group would like to put on record our support for a completely independent review of the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal and related maternity services.
We believe it should be conducted on the same terms as Donna Ockenden investigations at the Shrewsbury, Telford and Nottingham hospitals. In the interests of impartiality and continuity, it should be led by Ms Ockenden, given her proven track record of delivering independent, clinically led, and wide-ranging investigations to the highest standard.
It must examine ALL of the cases of deaths and collapses on the neonatal unit over an appropriate time period and Lucy’s name should be left completely out of it. It must not be an onsite re-run of the Thirlwall Inquiry. Instead, all focus should be based on establishing facts about care standards, mortality patterns and patient experiences. No cherry picking!
Several affected families have already expressed a desire for such an investigation to be conducted and I encourage everyone reading this who supports the idea to write to your MP and ask them to raise the matter in Parliament. This is a genuine chance of doing something useful to help Lucy, which has a realistic chance of succeeding.
Many more people deserve to be held to account and they should not be allowed to sail off into the sunset whilst one person shoulders the blame. It’s not fair on Lucy, the many forgotten patients and the staff and management at the other hospitals who had no choice but to accept Ms Ockenden’s findings with grace.
Petitions
After last month's spike in numbers following the Channel 5 documentary, I was expecting this month to return to normal somewhat. But thanks to some incredibly generous promotions and lots of social media shares, we have grown by a further 2400+ signatures in the space of four weeks.
It is wonderful to see so many people actively pushing it and taking proactive steps to help it build. That is the strength of people power at work and I thank all of you who continue to help it reach new people and places on a daily basis now.
With that being said, I would like to use this opportunity to bring to your attention another petition that has been created by the group Justice for Innocent Men Scotland (JIMS), urging the Scottish Government to undertake a review of Scotland's response to the UK Supreme Court judgment of 12 November 2025.
In the interests of the fundamental right to a fair trial, 1223 people have now signed their petition calling on Holyrood to ask the Scottish Government to provide answers amid a "lack of clarity" on what is being done to implement the UK Supreme Court's judgment.
Although Scotland has a separate justice system to those of us living in England and Wales, we share many of the same problems and signing the JIMS petition is an excellent opportunity to do a bit of joined up work. It only takes around a minute to do and I’m certain we can give their numbers a bit of a turbo charge.
Here is the link to their petition:
https://petitions.parliament.scot/petitions/PE2265
YouTube
Next weekend our third song for Lucy will be released on YouTube. Titled Wounded Warrior, this is very much one for those of you who like your music heavy. Very heavy! If you have more delicate ears, please still watch it as it comes with a completely unique storybook music video which complements the song’s lyrics.
This month also saw us pass 500 YouTube subscribers, but I do think there are still plenty of people out there who haven’t yet checked out our channel. If you are interested in finding out more, please have a look and consider subscribing by clicking on the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/@TheYellowButterflyGroup
The more subscribers we have, the more content we will produce in the future.
On that note, I would like to wish you all a very pleasant Sunday. Thank you again for the continued support.
Christopher Logan (Yellow Butterfly Group founder and campaign lead)
Note: This newsletter is 100% AI free and all opinions expressed are my own unless stated.