The BBC has been forced to correct and re-edit a Panorama programme on Lucy Letby after being accused of 'sloppy and amateurish' journalism and producing 'false statistics'.
The documentary repeated discredited claims that when Letby worked as a nurse at Liverpool Women's Hospital between 2012 and 2015, the dislodgement of breathing tubes occurred at a rate 40 times higher than normal during her shifts.
The claims had first been aired by Richard Baker KC, who represented the victims' families at the Thirlwall Inquiry, but were heavily contested by Jane Hutton, a professor of statistics at Warwick University, who wrote to the inquiry to express her 'concern at your very poor presentation of statistics relating to accidental dislodgement of endotracheal tubes'.
Professor Hutton wrote: 'Your statements implied that an evaluation of shifts shows a substantial increase in events when Letby was on shift. This is a fine example of statistical illiteracy which can mislead juries and the general public.'
However, Monday's Panorama, presented by Judith Moritz and Jonathan Coffey, described the figures as 'empirical' and suggested they damaged Letby's claims of innocence.
