Posted 10 July 2023 - 14:32
Posted 10 July 2023 - 14:32
News
Jury out in Lucy Letby murder trial
Nurse is accused of murdering seven babies and trying to murder ten others on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital
Nurse is accused of murdering seven babies and trying to murder ten others on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital
The jury in the trial of nurse Lucy Letby has been sent out to begin its deliberations.
Ms Letby is accused of murdering seven babies and trying to murder ten others during the course of her work on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
She is said to have deliberately harmed the infants in various ways, including by injecting air intravenously and administering air and/or milk into their stomachs via nasogastric tubes.
She also allegedly added insulin as a poison to intravenous feeds, interfered with breathing tubes and inflicted trauma in some cases.
Ms Letby denied all the allegations as she gave evidence in the witness box at Manchester Crown Court for 14 days during the trial, which began in October 2022.
Defence says deaths could have been due to natural causes, unascertained reason or from failure of care by others
She denies doing anything harmful to any child and the defence argues that the sudden collapses and deaths could have been due to natural causes, or for some unascertained reason, or from failure by others to provide appropriate care.
Her defence lawyer said she was a ‘hard-working, dedicated and caring’ nurse who loved her job.
Trial judge Mr Justice Goss told the jury of eight women and four men to approach their deliberations in a ‘fair, calm, objective and analytical way’.
He told them to cast aside emotion or any feelings of sympathy or antipathy.
The judge added: ‘You are under no pressure with time.’
Ms Letby denies seven counts of murder and 15 counts of attempted murder between June 2015 and June 2016.
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