Lucy Letby tells murder trial she ‘massively’ valued being a nurse
Nurse accused of killing seven babies takes to witness stand for first time, seven months on from start of her jury trial
Accused nurse Lucy Letby told a jury she ‘massively’ valued being a nurse and said accusations that she hurt babies in her care were ‘completely against being what a nurse is’ when she took the witness stand for the first time in her trial.
Seven months on from the start of her trial Ms Letby entered the witness box on Tuesday 2 May to give evidence in her own defence.
She is alleged to have murdered five boys and two girls, and attempted to murder another five boys and five girls, between June 2015 and June 2016.
The prosecution says Letby was a ‘constant malevolent presence’ to babies in her care at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital and used various means to target the infants, including injections of air and insulin poisoning.
Letby says she was a mentor for nursing students
Ms Letby told Manchester Crown Court that the first time she worked on the neonatal unit was in 2010 during a placement as a nursing student at the University of Chester. She qualified as a band 5 nurse in September 2011 and started working full time at the unit from January 2012.
Her barrister Ben Myers KC asked: ‘How much did you value being a nurse?’
Ms Letby said: ‘Massively. It was everything and I'd always strive to be the best nurse I could... I was also a mentor for student nurses at the university.’
Mr Myers went on: ‘And caring for babies?’
Ms Letby replied: ‘I always strived to go on every course possible to be the best I could.’
Letby says she cared for hundreds of babies and was devastated by accusations
She went on to qualify to work with babies in intensive care from March or April 2015.
Mr Myers asked her how many babies she had cared for between 2015 and 2016.
Ms Letby said: ‘It would be hundreds.’
Mr Myers said: ‘Did you care for them?’
Ms Letby said: ‘Yes.’
Asked if she ever wanted to hurt any of them, she said: ‘No, that’s completely against being what a nurse is.’
Ms Letby said she was devastated when she was removed from clinical duties. She said she was first informed she was being blamed for the deaths of babies in a letter from the Royal College of Nursing in September 2016.
Mr Myers asked how this made her feel. She replied: ‘It was sickening. I just could not believe it. It was devastating. I don’t think you could be accused of anything worse than that.’
Letby says she wrote note saying 'I am evil' because she thought she had made mistakes and not known
Questioning Ms Letby about a Post-it note found in her home, Mr Myers said: ‘You wrote ‘I am evil I did this’. Why?’
Ms Letby said: ‘Because I felt at the time I had done something wrong and I thought, I’m such an awful, evil person, that I had made mistakes and not known.’
Mr Myers asked: ‘What had you thought you had done?’
Ms Letby said: ‘That somehow I had been incompetent and I had done something wrong to affect these babies. I felt I must be responsible in some way.’
The trial continues.
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