Monday 10 October 2022 05:34 PM Alleged baby murderer Lucy Letby 'tracked families of her victims on Facebook ... trends now
A nurse accused of murdering seven premature babies - and trying to kill ten more - took up to three attempts to poison infants by injecting insulin, milk or even air into their tiny bodies, before repeatedly tracking their families on Facebook, a court heard today.
Lucy Letby, 32, is alleged to have gone on a year-long killing spree while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital - including one child who died less than 90 minutes after being handed into her care.
Children's nurse Lucy Letby (pictured) appeared in court today accused of murdering seven premature baby and trying to kill 10 more
Today the specially trained ICU nurse was described as a 'constant malevolent presence' on the Cheshire children's unit where she allegedly killed and injured many vulnerable children - including twins.
She is accused of using night shifts to launch many attacks because she knew parents were unlikely to visit the neonatal ward.
Several babies were allegedly poisoned with insulin and one child - known as Baby E - was murdered when Letby allegedly injected him with air, Manchester Crown Court has heard.
It caused what doctors call an air embolus, which leads to strokes or heart attacks. Letby is also accused of pumping dangerous levels of milk into the premature children via feeding tubes or veins.
She allegedly targeted twins on more than one occasion - and in some cases one was murdered and their sibling survived. Letby was questioned by police during interviews over why she had tracked the families of her alleged victims on Facebook, with prosecutors saying today that this was an 'unusual interest'.
Opening the prosecution, Nick Johnson KC, said: 'Sometimes a baby that she succeeded in killing was not killed the first or even second time she tried'. He added: 'Sometimes they were injected with air – both intravenously [into the blood] and via the nasogastric tube [into the stomach]. Sometimes they were injected with milk or some other fluid. Sometimes it was insulin. But the constant presence was Lucy Letby'.
Police discovered 'a poisoner was at work' on the NHS neonatal unit after a 'significant rise' in the number of healthy babies dying or falling ill while a nurse accused of murdering seven children and trying to kill ten more was working on the ward between June 2015 and June 2016, the jury were told on the first day of her trial. She is facing 22 charges concerning 17 babies, some of whom she allegedly attempted to murder multiple times. Letby pleaded not guilty to each charge this morning.
Mr Johnson said Letby was a 'constant malevolent presence' at the 'closely restricted' neonatal unit. He added: 'It is a hospital like so many others in the UK but unlike many other hospitals in the UK, and unlike many other neo-natal units in the UK, within the neo-natal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital a poisoner was at work.'
The prosecutor said two babies - referred to as Baby F and Baby L for legal reasons - were 'poisoned' by Letby 'deliberately with insulin'. They were attacked allegedly eight months apart with each of them from separate sets of twins. Both boys' blood sugar 'inexplicably dropped to dangerous levels' - but both survived 'because of the skill of the staff in the neonatal unit', the court heard.
He said both of the twins injected with insulin each had a baby brother, Baby E and Baby M, who were both also allegedly attacked by Letby. The court heard one of the means by which the Baby E was killed and Baby M was harmed, by having air injected into the bloodstream. Baby M had 'mercifully' survived.
He said: 'Babies who had not been unstable at all suddenly severely deteriorated. Sometimes babies who had been sick and then on the mend deteriorated for no apparent reason. Having searched for a cause, which they were unable to find, the consultants found the inexplicable collapses and deaths did have one common denominator. The presence of one of the neonatal nurses. That nurse was Lucy Letby.'
During the time Letby worked on the night shift, there was a rise in babies dying or falling seriously ill, Manchester Crown Court was told, and then when she moved to the day shift there were more 'inexplicable collapses and deaths'.
As the trial of Lucy Letby got underway today, the court heard:
Letby, 32, denied murdering seven premature babies and attempting to murder 10 more Letby is alleged to have injected babies with insulin, air or pumped with milk to kill them The nurse is alleged to have killed babies during night shifts when parents were less likely to visit She is said to have searched for the families of her alleged victims families on Facebook Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC described Letby as a 'constant malevolent presence' at the neonatal unit Deaths occurred at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016 where it has been alleged that a 'poisoner was at work' Letby was arrested three years after the death of her first alleged victim on June 8, 2015 She allegedly targeted twins on more than one occasion - and in some cases one was murdered and their sibling survived In some cases, Letby is alleged to have tried to kill the same baby on more than one occasion Child A, who was allegedly murdered, died less than 90 minutes after Letby came on night shift Mr Johnson said that 'in all cases Lucy Letby was either responsible for them as their designated nurse or she got involved with them despite not being their designated nurse' Her parents and the parents of her alleged victims watched the start of the trial at Manchester Crown Court today
Lucy Letby, 32, is alleged to have gone on a year-long killing spree while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital
Lucy Letby sketched in the dock at Manchester Crown Court with security where she is charged with the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of another ten, between June 2015 and June 2016 while working on the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital
Lucy Letby appearing in the dock at Manchester Crown Court
Lucy Letby was today accused of poisoning babies on the night shift.
There tended to be fewer staff on the unit at night, and parents as well tended to visit mostly in the days.
Mr Johnson continued: 'Many of the events in this case occurred on the night shifts.
'When upon Lucy Letby was moved on to day shifts, the collapses and deaths moved to the day shifts.'
Mr Johnson said as medics could not account for the collapses and deaths, police were called in and conducted a 'pain-staking review'.
He said: 'That review suggests that in the period between mid-2015 and the middle of 2016 somebody in the neo-natal unit poisoned two children with insulin.
'The prosecution say that the only reasonable conclusion to be drawn from the evidence you will hear is that somebody poisoned these babies deliberately with insulin. This was no accident.'
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Letby, 32, allegedly tried to kill one baby girl three times and a baby boy three times - including two attempts in one day.
'Many of the events in this case occurred on the night shifts,' said Mr Johnson. 'Although when Lucy Letby was moved on to day shifts towards the end of this period the collapses and deaths moved to the day shifts'.
Referring to the alleged poisoning of both Baby F and Baby L, he added: 'Lucy Letby was on duty when both were poisoned. We allege that she was the poisoner'.
This morning she was brought into the dock at Manchester Crown Court, wearing a dark blue suit with a black blouse.
Mr Johnson said: 'Prior to January 2015, the statistics for the mortality of babies in the neo-natal unit at the Countess of Chester were comparable to other like units.
'However 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.
'These rises were noticed by the consultants working at the Countess of Chester and they searched for a cause.'
They were concerned that babies who were dying had deteriorated unexpectedly, despite appropriate medical interventions that would normally have saved them.
He said the collapses 'defied the normal experience of the treating doctors'.
Mr Johnson said that normally babies might suffer from heart problems, infection or dehydration.
'Usually when an intervention was undertaken a positive reaction can be expected. But many of the cases you are going to hear about defied those expectations and norms', he said.
Babies who were stable suddenly deteriorated, and sometimes babies who had been sick but were on the mend suddenly deteriorated for no apparent reason.
Having searched for a cause, the consultants noticed that a single common factor was the presence of a single neonatal nurse.
'That nurse' said the barrister, 'was Lucy Letby'.
'Many of the events in this case occurred on the night shifts,' said Mr Johnson. 'Although when Lucy Letby was moved on to day shifts towards the end of this period the collapses and deaths moved to the day shifts.
Children's nurse Lucy Letby (pictured) has gone on trial today accused of seven baby murders
Letby is accused of attacking two sets of twins - with insulin and with air - one child, Baby E, would die but his sibling survived
'Because of the inability of doctors to find genuine medical reasons for the deaths and collapses the police were called in'.
