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5 months ago
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Killer nurse Lucy Letby told police the hospital she was working in was understaffed and denied dislodging the breathing tube of a very premature baby in a bid to murder her, a court heard on Friday.
The jury was shown video of interviews conducted by detectives after she was arrested on three occasions between 2018 and 2020.
On the tapes, former neo-natal nurse Letby, 34, appeared calm and spoke softly. In one interview in the pandemic, she wore a protective visor.
Detectives asked her about a claim from a doctor at the Countess of Chester Hospital that he had caught her 'virtually red-handed' attempting to murder a very premature baby.
The girl, known as baby K, was born 15 weeks early aged 25 weeks in February 2016 when her mother went into labour unexpectedly. She weighed just 1lb 8oz.
Killer nurse Lucy Letby, 34, told police the Countess of Chester Hospital where she was working in was understaffed and denied dislodging the breathing tube of a very premature baby in a bid to murder her, a court heard
A doctor at the Countess of Chester Hospital said that he had caught Letby 'virtually red-handed' attempting to murder a very premature baby known as Baby K
Senior medic Dr Ravi Jayaram has told the jury no monitor alarms were sounding when he found Letby next to the baby's incubator 'doing nothing', even though her oxygen levels were falling dangerously low.
Letby told police she couldn't remember the incident and denied dislodging the infant's breathing tube or turning off the alarm when she collapsed.
Detective Sergeant Danielle Stonier asked: 'Lucy, did you dislodge Baby K's tube?'
'No,' she replied.
The officer pressed: 'Intending to cause her harm.'
'No.'
Asked whether there was a reason Dr Jayaram could be mistaken, Letby replied: 'I don't know, he obviously seems to remember it quite specifically, in terms of timing and I don't.
'It's a shame if he felt uncomfortable that he didn't raise that sooner with me personally.'
The officers showed Letby a text she sent to her best friend, a nurse on the unit, at 9.14 pm on the day Baby K was born.
In response to her friend asking if Baby K had been transferred to a more specialist unit, Letby replied: 'Yeah but not til 2ish and very unstable blood pressure . . . but Chris off sick so only Me, Amy, Sophie Val and Angela with 13 babies and tones [sic] of antibiotics.'
Letby's convictions, including the names and birth dates of the 13 babies she murdered or tried to murder between June 2015 and June 2016, were read to the jury at Manchester Crown Court
The six men and six women were also told the jury in Letby's original trial were discharged after failing to reach a verdict in Baby K's case, before a retrial was ordered
Letby, formerly of Hereford, denies attempted murder of a premature newborn, Baby K
Asked if she was suggesting the unit was understaffed, Letby replied: 'Yes . . . Baby K would need one-to-one, which would have left only four people looking after 13 babies.'
On Friday, Letby's convictions, including the names and birth dates of the 13 babies she murdered or tried to murder between June 2015 and June 2016, were read to the jury at Manchester Crown Court.
The six men and six women were also told the jury in her original trial were discharged after failing to reach a verdict in Baby K's case, before a retrial was ordered.
Letby, formerly of Hereford, denies attempted murder of Baby K. Her barrister, Ben Myers KC, said the child was 'clinically fragile' due to her extreme prematurity.
The case continues.
Listen to The Trial of Lucy Letby: Baby K, wherever you get your podcasts now.
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