Lucy Letby cried as she described the “devastating” deaths of two babies from a set of triplets she allegedly murdered a day apart before being removed from frontline nursing, a court has heard.
The neonatal nurse broke down in tears as she was questioned by police about the babies she allegedly killed immediately after returning from a holiday to Ibiza, Manchester crown court was told on Tuesday.
Letby, 33, denies murdering seven babies and attempting to kill another 10 between June 2015 and June 2016 at the Countess of Chester hospital. She is accused of murdering 48-hour-old Child O by injecting his nasogastric tube with air before fatally attacking his brother, Child P, the same way a day later.
Jurors were told on Tuesday how Letby cried as she told police of the “panic” in the neo natal unit when Child P suddenly deteriorated a day after the death of his brother.
Asked by police how she felt when Child P unexpectedly died, Letby broke down and said: “It was just devastating for us all and then to have them both … ”
The nurse said she dressed the dead brothers and took photographs of them in their Moses basket at the request of their parents. Asked whether it was normal for a nurse to do this, she told officers: “If that is what they wanted me to do, I wanted to do it. As I said, they wanted me to dress them as well.”
The brothers were allegedly the sixth and seventh babies murdered by Letby in 12 months before she was removed from frontline nursing in June 2016.
The trial has been told that Letby was placed on non-clinical duties in the hospital’s risk and patient safety office after consultants raised concerns about her “common link” to numerous patient collapses on the unit.
The jury heard on Thursday how Letby had been told about the birth of the triplets in a text message shortly before she was due to return from a holiday in Ibiza. She replied that she would be “back in with a bang lol”.
Philip Astbury, prosecuting, told the court that following their deaths, Letby messaged a colleague to say she was “worried in case there was a bug on the unit”. The nurse, originally from Hereford, denied in a police interview that she was trying to create an alternative explanation for the unexpected deaths in an attempt to deflect suspicion.
She told officers: “There had been discussions on the unit about whether there might be something wrong with the unit in itself, a bug or with the equipment, that might have affected the boys themselves.”
Earlier, Letby was asked why she had taken a photograph of a sympathy card she sent to the parents of a baby girl she allegedly murdered on her fourth attempt.
The nurse said she often took pictures of cards, and added: “It was upsetting losing [Child I] and I think it was nice to remember the kind words that I hoped I’d shared with that family.”
The trial continues.
