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Lucy Letby: baby girl died at fourth murder attempt, trial told

Neonatal nurse had already tried to kill the infant three times before fatally injecting air into her bloodstream, prosecution alleges
Nurse Lucy Letby, who is accused of multiple murders and attempted murders of babies in her care at Countess of Chester Hospital

Neonatal nurse had already tried to kill the infant three times before fatally injecting air into her bloodstream, prosecution alleges

Accused nurse Lucy Letby Picture: Shutterstock

A baby girl was killed by an injection of air into her bloodstream, the murder trial of nurse Lucy Letby heard.

The prosecution claims Ms Letby murdered the premature infant at the fourth attempt during a night shift at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit.

Child I, who cannot be named for legal reasons, died in the early hours of 23 October, 2015, after sudden collapses on 30 September, and 13 and 14 October.

Baby had been stable before sudden collapse, expert witness said

On Thursday, expert witness retired consultant paediatrician Dewi Evans told Manchester Crown Court that in his opinion Child I had, on the first three occasions, been injected with air into her stomach via a feeding tube.

But an ‘extremely disturbing phenomenon’ of Child I’s ‘relentless, loud’ crying before her final collapse led him to believe a different method was used on that occasion.

The first collapse, he told the court, had been ‘out of the blue’.

Dr Evans said: ‘She was entirely stable right up to the point of collapse. My opinion was that Child I had been subjected to an infusion of air. In other words, air had been injected into her stomach.

‘That interferes with your ability to move your diaphragm up and down, and that interferes with your breathing.’

He said there was ‘striking evidence’ from an abdominal X-ray, which showed ‘lots of air’ present. He told the court he came to the conclusion Child I had suffered ‘splintering of the diaphragm’ in the early hours of 13 October.

Infant had previously recovered after medical intervention

During the following night shift, he said the baby’s condition deteriorated again as a result of an event that had interfered with her breathing. In one report, he wrote this collapse was ‘also suspicious and suggestive of inappropriate care, most likely due to the perpetrator injecting a large amount of air via the nasogastric tube’.

Dr Evans told the court an X-ray showed an ‘astonishingly large amount of air’ in the infant’s stomach. He said Child I was again stable before a sudden deterioration shortly before midnight on October 22.

The court has heard Child I quickly recovered after medical staff gave her breathing support but less than an hour later, she deteriorated again.

Nurse witness recalled baby’s cries

Nurse Ashleigh Hudson told jurors about Child I’s ‘relentless, very loud’ crying from her incubator at just before midnight.

Dr Evans said: ‘Ashleigh Hudson’s evidence was very moving because nurses and doctors know what a normal cry sounds like. Babies will cry if they are hungry, or if you take a blood test because it hurts.

‘This was very abnormal. A different kind of a cry. I interpreted it as the cry of a baby in pain and in severe distress.

‘That is an extremely disturbing phenomenon. There was no obvious explanation why she was crying relentlessly, and it was very loud.’

Prosecution counsel Nick Johnson KC asked the witness what he concluded was the cause of the fatal collapse. Dr Evans replied: ‘I think she was the victim of air being injected into her blood circulation. This probably explains her crying and distress, and the failure of the medical team second time round to save her life.’

Lucy Letby, from Hereford, denies murdering seven babies and attempting to murder 10 others between June 2015 and June 2016.

The trial continues.


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