Lucy Letby has denied tampering with a premature baby’s breathing tube twice to cover her tracks after a court heard she had been “caught cold” attempting to murder the infant.
Giving evidence for a second day at Manchester crown court, the former nurse told jurors she could not recall the events in question but said: “I did nothing to harm [the baby].”
Letby, 34, was convicted last year of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six others on the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester hospital in north-west England.
She is on trial accused of attempting to kill another infant, known as Baby K, by displacing her endotracheal tube less than two hours after she was born in the early hours of 17 February 2016. Letby denies the charge.
The jury was previously told a senior doctor, Dr Ravi Jayaram, walked in on Letby alone with Baby K, doing nothing to help as the infant’s blood oxygen levels plummeted and the alarms on the monitor failed to sound.
In the hours that followed on the same shift it is said she interfered with replacement tubes for the newborn on two more occasions in an attempt to cover her tracks.
Letby said she could not recall the first event but that it was the hospital’s policy to wait and see if a baby “self-corrected” rather than intervene immediately.
However, the jury had been given expert evidence from Elizabeth Morgan, a nursing advisory consultant, who said it “would not be normal nursing practice” to wait and see in the case of Baby K, given she was born 15 weeks premature and weighed just 692g.
“That’s her opinion,” said Letby when asked about Morgan’s statement on Tuesday. “I can’t say it’s right or wrong. I just know what the policy was in Chester.”
Nick Johnson KC, prosecuting, questioned whether that policy also applied to newborns as premature as Baby K.
“For any baby,” Letby continued. “There isn’t a policy but from my experience of working at Liverpool Women’s [hospital] and at the Countess of Chester you would not immediately put your hands in the incubator and start doing something because the baby would often self-correct quite quickly.”
Johnson asked: “For a 25-week gestation baby?” “Yes,” said Letby.
“You are lying, aren’t you?” the prosecutor asked. “No,” replied Letby.
“You are lying because you were caught cold by Dr Jayaram,” Johnson went on. “No,” said Letby.
The defendant was flanked by two prison officers in the witness box as she was cross-examined by Johnson about her alleged involvement in two further incidents involving Baby K later that morning.
Letby said: “I did nothing to harm [Baby K]. I don’t recall the events. I don’t recall what happened that night but I know I did nothing to interfere with [Baby K].”
Letby said her only memory of Baby K was that the infant was extremely premature. She told jurors Baby K was only on the neonatal unit briefly before being transferred to Arrowe Park hospital.
Johnson said Letby’s Facebook records showed she had searched for the family’s surname two years after the baby had left the neonatal unit – and 10 weeks before the defendant’s first police interview in July 2018.
Baby K was “a child who, I suggest, you remembered very well”, said Johnson. “I disagree,” replied Letby.
Concluding the cross-examination, Johnson asked Letby: “You tried to kill [Baby K] didn’t you?”
“No,” the defendant replied.
“Just like you tried to kill six other babies?” Johnson went on. “No,” said Letby.
“And you succeeded with murdering seven other children?” the prosecutor continued. “No,” replied Letby.
The defence concluded its evidence after Letby’s testimony. The jury of six men and six women were told they would retire to consider their verdict early next week.
The trial continues.
