A nurse accused of multiple baby murders said it was “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do” when she took the body of a newborn baby to a mortuary as his father cried on the floor.
Lucy Letby, 32, messaged a colleague about the death of her first alleged victim at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit in June 2015.
She is said to have murdered Child A on the evening of June 8 by injecting air into his bloodstream and then allegedly attempted to murder his twin sister, Child B, by the same method on the following night shift.
She is on trial at Manchester Crown Court accused of seven murders and the attempted murders of 10 others.
On Tuesday, the jury of eight women and four men was shown a series of messages the defendant exchanged with other staff members, along with activity on her social media accounts.
Less than two hours after she finished the shift during which Child A died she made a Facebook search for Child A’s mother, the court heard.
Later on June 9, before her next shift started, she replied to a fellow nurse who asked: “Hi Lucy. Hope you are OK?”
Letby responded: “I think we all did everything we possibly could under very difficult and sad circumstances. Haven’t had much sleep. Don’t really want to see parents but it’s got to be done.
“I said to (another nurse) that I can’t look after (Child B) because I just don’t know how I’m going to feel seeing parents.
“Dad was on the floor crying saying ‘please don’t take our baby away’ when we took him to the mortuary. It’s just heart-breaking.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Hopefully have a more positive one tonight.”
Hours later Child B collapsed while Letby was on duty, before the youngster later stabilised and was eventually discharged the following month, the court was told.
A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of surviving and dead children allegedly attacked by Letby, and also prohibits identifying parents or witnesses connected with the children.
Letby, originally from Hereford, denies all the offences which are said to have been committed between June 2015 and June 2016.
