A nurse accused of murdering seven babies wrote their initials in her diary on the dates she is alleged to have attacked them, a court has been told.
Jurors in the trial of Lucy Letby were shown images of her diary in which she had recorded the days on which some of her alleged victims died.
The trial at Manchester crown court was also shown a document that included the names of some of the babies alongside the words: “I don’t know if I killed them. Maybe I did. Maybe this is all down to me”.
Letby, 33, is accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill another 10 between June 2015 and June 2016 at the Countess of Chester hospital where she worked. She denies all the charges.
The defendant, who was seated alongside two officers in the court dock, appeared to become tearful as photographs of her bedroom were shown to the jury on Monday.
She appeared to weep as images of her room – decorated with wall art that read: “Leave sparkles wherever you go” – were displayed on televisions in court.
Philip Astbury, prosecuting, also showed pictures of Letby’s 2016 diary in which she had written the initials of some of her alleged victims on significant dates.
Astbury told jurors the babies’ initials were recorded on dates such as the day they were born, the days they were allegedly attacked, and the day they died.
They were written in a different coloured pen from Letby’s social engagements – including weekly salsa classes – and it is not known whether they were penned contemporaneously or later.
The jury was also shown images of handwritten notes recovered from the nurse’s home, including an A4 document in which she had written “kill me” in bold alongside a crossed out box that contained the words: “I don’t know if I killed them. Maybe I did. Maybe this is all down to me.”
The items were recovered from Letby’s bedroom after her first arrest at her Chester home in the early hours of 3 July 2018.
Jurors have previously been shown Post-it notes on which she wrote that she was innocent and others that included the words: “I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to care for them.”
The jury was told that in Letby’s spare bedroom police found a paper shredder containing the remnants of “bank or visa bill statements” that had been destroyed.
A box for a paper shredder was recovered from her parent’s house in Hereford, containing five handover sheets from Letby’s hospital shifts.
Police also seized paperwork from Letby’s desk at the Countess of Chester. One document included the handwritten names of her colleagues, alongside love hearts and the words: “I loved you but it wasn’t enough.”
The note continued: “I really can’t do this any more. I just want life to be as it was … I want to be happy in the job that I loved … Really I don’t belong anywhere. I am a problem to those who do know me and it would be much easier for everyone if I just went away.”
Jurors were told that 257 nursing handover sheets were recovered from addresses linked to Letby after her first arrest. A total of 21 related to babies she is alleged to have harmed.
The trial continues.
