Raw sewage may have been a “contributing factor” in the unexplained deaths of babies on a hospital neonatal unit, a nurse accused of their murder has said.
Lucy Letby, 33, told her trial that an intensive care room for babies at the Countess of Chester hospital was “not a safe working environment”.
“We used to have raw sewage coming out of the sinks [and] coming out on the floor in nursery one,” she said, giving evidence for an eighth day at Manchester crown court.
Questioned about the alleged murder of a six-day-old boy in August 2015, Letby said it was an “important thing to know there were often plumbing issues” in the room where he was being treated.
She said: “It’s a contributory issue if the unit is dirty and staff were unable to wash their hands.”
Letby said plumbers were often called into nursery one – the intensive care room for the most vulnerable babies – to deal with “backflow” through the sinks from a separate theatre.
She added: “That’s not a safe working environment. I’m not sure what impact that could have on a poorly baby.”
Letby denies murdering seven babies and attempting to kill another 10 between June 2015 and June 2016.
The nurse, originally from Hereford, was seated between two female prison officers as she gave evidence in the 29th week of the trial in Manchester.
She was questioned by the prosecutor, Nick Johnson KC, about the death of the six-day-old twin boy, who can only be named as Child E, on 4 August 2015.
The jury has been told that Child E’s mother walked in on Letby allegedly trying to kill her son when she brought his expressed breast milk to the neonatal unit at about 9pm on 3 August.
The mother has told the court that she heard the baby’s “horrendous” screams and saw blood around his mouth when she walked in to the nursery room, where Letby was standing alone near his incubator.
Letby denies there was blood around the boy’s mouth at 9pm and that his mother is mistaken when she says she was on the unit at that time.
Johnson said: “I’m going to suggest to you that when [Child E’s mother] came down at 21.00 hours you had inflicted an injury to cause bleeding?”
Letby replied: “No, I do not accept that. That did not happen.”
Child E’s mother testified that Letby had told her that the bleeding was the result of a nasogastric tube being inserted into the infant – but the defendant denies saying this.
The boy’s mother had also told the court that she telephoned her husband as soon as she returned to the postnatal ward because she was worried about what she had seen. Phone records show that call was placed at 9.11pm.
Asked by Johnson whether she killed Child E, Letby replied: “No.”
“Because you injected him with air,” said Johnson. “No,” replied the nurse.
“Just as you had done with other babies before,” said the prosecutor. “No,” Letby answered.
Letby denied she was “obsessed” with Child E’s mother after the jury was told the defendant searched for her on Facebook, including just before midnight on Christmas Day.
Letby is accused of attempting to murder Child E’s brother 24 hours later by lacing his feeding bag with insulin. She denies all the charges against her.
The trial continues.
