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Lucy Letby: nurse was ‘constant malevolent presence’ court hears

Babies were allegedly poisoned with insulin injections, trial is told, as details emerge of seven murder charges denied by children’s nurse Lucy Letby  

Babies were allegedly poisoned with insulin injections, trial is told, as details emerge of seven murder charges denied by children’s nurse Lucy Letby

Court sketch of Lucy Letby in Manchester Crown Court
Lucy Letby appearing in the dock at Manchester Crown Court. Court sketch by Elizabeth Cook Picture: Alamy

A children’s nurse accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder ten others was a ‘constant malevolent presence’ in their care, a jury has heard.

Lucy Letby is alleged to have carried out the killings while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital as a neonatal nurse between June 2015 and June 2016. She denies all the charges.

‘A poisoner was at work’ in the neonatal unit, court hears

Opening the prosecution case on 10 October at Manchester Crown Court, Nick Johnson KC said that the hospital was like so many in the UK except in the neonatal unit ‘a poisoner was at work’.

The prosecution alleges that Ms Letby killed babies by poisoning them with insulin, injecting air into their blood or overfeeding them milk.

Mr Johnson explained that before January 2015 the mortality statistics at the unit were comparable to other neonatal units in the UK. But over the next 18 months or so ‘there was a significant rise in the number of babies who were dying and in the number of serious catastrophic collapses’, causing consultants to become concerned.

Mr Johnson added: ‘Babies who had not been unstable at all suddenly deteriorated. Sometimes babies who had been sick, but then been on the mend suddenly deteriorated for no apparent reason.

‘Having searched for a cause, which they were unable to find, the consultants noticed that the inexplicable collapses and deaths did have one common denominator. The presence of one of the neonatal nurses and that nurse was Lucy Letby.’

Deaths corresponded to Lucy Letby’s shift patterns, says prosecution

Mr Johnson continued: ‘Many of the events in this case occurred on night shifts. When Ms Letby was moved on to day shifts, the collapses and deaths moved to the day shifts.’

Ms Letby earlier pleaded not guilty to seven counts of murder and 15 counts of attempted murder against ten babies.

A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of surviving and deceased children allegedly harmed by Ms Letby, and prohibits identifying parents or witnesses connected with the children.


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