Chris Brook

Astrophysicist. Campaigner against junk science and for people wrongfully convicted based on junk science. Uni La Laguna + Instituto Astrofísica Canarias

[Susan Goldsmith @SGinvestigation]

When rubbish science sends the innocent to jail https://t.co/f5XO1rINlQ

[Chris Brook @cbabrook]

@jeremy_gans Hahaha ...90percent of forensics would be (rightly) wiped out if that happened. I love justice Walker for trying to raise standards but most of her colleagues lack her scientific literacy .

[Dr Svilena Dimitrova @NeoDoc11]

Lucy Letby is not innocent because her friends say she’s incapable of murder - she is innocent because the evidence shows she did not do anything wrong.

There is ZERO evidence that the babies were harmed deliberately. Their deteriorations and failed resuscitations were entirely explainable by pre-existing conditions and shockingly poor standards of care.

The prosecution’s case rested on the opinions of a single man with no relevant or recent neonatal experience - a self-promoting “expert” witness who claimed to have “only ever lost one case” and advanced bizarre implausible theories which brought him a generous income.

Crucial evidence of systemic failings and negligent care was ignored. Several clinicians involved have since been referred to the GMC, the police, and the coroner’s court for actions or failures that may constitute gross negligence manslaughter, contempt of court, and perjury. This is NEW evidence.

While experts may disagree on the specific causes of each deterioration or failed resuscitation, the public fail to understand how this is completely normal in complex medical cases (hence the concept of multiple differential diagnoses 🙄🙄) - there is clear unanimous agreement on two core aspects of the case - the standard of care these babies received was appalling. And no murders occurred.

The now-infamous “post-it note” evidence was misinterpreted and used manipulatively - a deeply flawed tactic that has been heavily precedented in other “caregiver” miscarriages of justice.

The “statistics” presented to the jury were laughably biased. The data was cherry picked to suit a narrative by doctors who could well have been struck off for incompetence or arrested for gross negligence manslaughter.

Police refused to investigate any cause of death other than murder.

Parents were misled and gaslit into believing their babies were deliberately harmed - long before the case even went to court.

Judge Goss allowed this miscarriage to unfold despite warnings. He allowed the doctors who were witnesses of fact to be treated as experts and thus to mark their own substandard work as excellent in front of a jury of lay people.

Media coverage was biased, sensationalist and instrumental in stoking a public witch hunt.

Whistleblowers stayed silent for fear of being scapegoated. Others were actively ignored by Cheshire police and LJ Thirlwall.

The legal profession oversaw a trial with no defence witnesses that was so one-sided it defied basic principles of logic, never mind justice.

This case is a national disgrace. It should shame the British legal system and the NHS and turn both into a global laughingstock.

[charlotte purdy @charlotte_purdy]

Highly recommend this podcast. New series released. So compelling.

https://t.co/DGYd9HEB51

[Newsroom @NewsroomNZ]

Dispute over lead Starship radiologist's diagnosis of 19 rib fractures – man in prison

A child’s rib fractures were central to conviction of a young father. Three overseas experts say there was no evidence of fractures.

https://t.co/lXfL0GjMFu

[Chris Brook @cbabrook]

@BreakellWe60182 @SpringFord14 @MartynPitman You think that science gets "tested" in a court!? Evans evidence was not tested until actual experts looked at it after court and showed it to be garbage. He is not alone though...Child abuse pediatrians have provided junk science in UK courts in literally thousands of cases

[Chris Brook @cbabrook]

@GilbertPedNeuro @AnnalsCNS @WileyNeuro 1. Severity is not a clinical factor that allows accurate diagnosis of AHT https://t.co/YZKUs4WtWO. 2. Death is an outcome of clinical findings, not a clinical finding itself. 3. why cant assessing severity be referred to as a value based judgement? Are you playing semantics?

[Chris Brook @cbabrook]

Thanks to @csgreeley for raising the important issue of selection bias in #AHT and #shakenbabysyndrome. Whist incorporation bias and associated circular reasoning continues to plague the field, it is also crucial to consider selection bias. #junkscience

[Annals of the Child Neurology Society @AnnalsCNS]

"Commentary on Witnessing #AbusiveHeadTrauma: Accidents Show Higher Rates of Intracranial Pathologies Than Shaking—Caution Is Warranted" by Christopher Greeley & Jim Anderst and response by @cbabrook: https://t.co/Zcr26VdIB6
https://t.co/lGSQF4dvLx
#ShakenBabySyndrome @WileyNeuro

[Annals of the Child Neurology Society @AnnalsCNS]

"Commentary on Witnessing #AbusiveHeadTrauma: Accidents Show Higher Rates of Intracranial Pathologies Than Shaking—Caution Is Warranted" by Christopher Greeley & Jim Anderst and response by @cbabrook: https://t.co/Zcr26VdIB6
https://t.co/lGSQF4dvLx
#ShakenBabySyndrome @WileyNeuro

[Chris Brook @cbabrook]

@gilham_stuart The "experts" in the UK are responsible for a lot of unscientific literature. Just pornpoor methodology used to try to prove they are right, not trying to do actual science. they are zealots with power to remove children and send people to prison based on unfounded beliefs

[Chris Brook @cbabrook]

@reasonoverfear No. thought she was innocent and still think she is innocent.

[Chris Brook @cbabrook]

@DavidDavisMP Expert reports should also be freely available! Make then open to scrutiny like all science should be! The opaque nature of courts is how they get away with presenting so much junk science. Make it happen!

[Chris Brook @cbabrook]

https://t.co/kjD9SfBY3Q

[Chris Brook @cbabrook]

@Lizziesaurus @BOHInnocence Great book. Shows the evidence as received by the jury and how lay people (and the jury) interpret forensic evidence and assess witnesses. Reading alongside my book enhances understand of our justice system by providing very different viewpoints.. then make make up your own mind

[Chris Brook @cbabrook]

@Sunraged @NeilRos55889793 When was the mother asked about this? Why is her memory taken as gospel? She probably just mixed up the time of the mucous (9) and the time of the bleeding (10). Did she have any notes?

[Chris Brook @cbabrook]

@RpsAgainstTrump Why do they waste time doing economic analysis. Trump wants to replace income tax with tariffs so that he can pay less income tax. That is all the analysis you need. #AmericaFirst = #TrumpFirst

[Chris Brook @cbabrook]

@carovinuesa You just described thousands of shaken baby/abusive head trauma cases. The scope of the #wrongfulconvictions, over decades, dwarfs the post office scandal. Lucy Letby is the tip of the iceberg.

[Chris Brook @cbabrook]

@tee11xy @carovinuesa @Telegraph @sarahknapton Yes misled because she was only given the medical files and she was not told of other peoples suspicions. If she cannot infer anything from the medical files then she cannot infer anything. Basing her opinion on other pepoles suspicions is not expert opinion

[Chris Brook @cbabrook]

@carovinuesa Claims she was "misled" because she was not told other doctors suspected Letby. Sums up so much of forensic medicine: they almost never can infer anything from the actual medical findings: they fit their findings to what they are told to find.