A Netflix documentary about Lucy Letby that contains police footage of her being arrested in her pyjamas has been condemned by her parents as a 'complete invasion of privacy'.

Speaking publicly for the first time since their daughter was jailed for life in August 2023, Susan and John Letby also said that the chief officer at the force which investigated the deaths of babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital 'seemed to have a deep hatred' of them.

Their remarks were made ahead of the release of the feature-length documentary on Wednesday, which is expected to show more unreleased footage of Letby during her arrests.

It comes amid mounting doubts among eminent experts over the safety of the prosecution case against Letby, 36, who was convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of seven others at the hospital between 2015 and 2016.

Over the past 18 months, The Mail on Sunday has highlighted how she was found guilty on the basis of contested statistical probabilities and disputed theories about how she might have inflicted harm on the children. 

The juries reached their verdict despite the absence of any forensic or CCTV evidence and the lack of a convincing motive. 

Apparent contradictions in the testimony of Dr Dewi Evans, 75, the prosecution's chief expert witness, have come under particular scrutiny.

Cheshire Constabulary passed further evidence to prosecutors last year relating to eight potential offences of attempted murder and one offence of murder at the hospital. 

But after studying the files, the CPS confirmed last month that Letby will face no further charges. Her defence team argue that this was because a new trial would have exposed the flaws in her original convictions.

A trailer for the Netflix programme shows officers arriving at the nurse's family home, where she was staying with her parents, in Hereford in June 2019 and entering her bedroom. 

She is seen sitting up in bed, looking confused, as police say they are arresting her on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. She is then led away in her dressing gown.

The Letbys told The Sunday Times that said they would not watch the documentary because 'it would likely kill us if we did'. They said in a statement: 'We've always imagined that if something life-changing is going to happen to you the next day, you would somehow have a premonition that something was about to happen. 

'We can honestly say that on the eve of all three of the arrests we had absolutely no idea they were coming.'

Her parents questioned why police had decided to release the footage and said: 'Why is [investigating officer Detective Superintendent] Paul Hughes, with whom we always co-operated fully, allowed to show the world what took place in our house that morning and Netflix not even have the decency to tell us? 

'He seems to have a deep hatred of us.'

The couple reveal that they had co-operated with the police by reporting to them in March 2017 that Stephen Brearey and Ravi Jayaram - doctors at the hospital whose role in encouraging a police investigation into Letby at a time when the hospital was struggling to keep premature babies alive has come under increasing scrutiny - were trying to make their daughter a 'scapegoat' for the failings. 

Dame Esther Rantzen, the former host of BBC consumer show That's Life!, told The Sunday Times that the case should be re-examined. 

Letby's case is now being considered by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.