A young nurse allegedly acted as a "poisoner" targeting babies in the neo-natal unit of a hospital, a jury was told.
Lucy Letby, 32, of Arran Avenue, Hereford, is standing trial at Manchester Crown Court accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder a further 10, some on more than one occasion. Letby, with brown hair and wearing a dark suit jacket, appeared in the dock flanked by prison officers before the four men and eight women of the jury after pleading not guilty to all charges against her.
This lunchtime Nicholas Johnson, KC, leading the prosecution, told the jury that consultants at The Countess of Chester Hospital, where Letby worked, began noticing higher than normal numbers of deaths and sudden collapses of babies.
Mr Johnson explained that the hospital, like many others in the country, has a maternity unit and within the maternity unit, a neo-natal unit for premature or sick babies. He told the jury: "But unlike many other hospitals within the UK, and unlike other maternity units, and unlike other neo-natal units in the UK, within the neo-natal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital a poisoner was at work".
Mr Johnson said that prior to January 2015, the mortality statistics for the Countess of Chester's maternity and neo-natal units were comparable to other similar sized hospitals. He said: "However, over the next 18 months or so there was a significant rise in the number of babies who were dying and in the number of serious and catastrophic collapses.
"That rise was noticed by the consultants working at the Countess of Chester Hospital and they searched for a cause."
Mr Johnson said the consultants failed to find an adequate explanation as to the rise in deaths and sudden collapses, which were "outside the normal experience" of treating doctors, and were in babies who had not otherwise shown signs of deterioration.
Mr Johnson said: "Having searched for a cause, which they were unable to find, the consultants noticed that the unexpected collapses and deaths did have one common denominator; the presence of one of the neo-natal nurses. That nurse was Lucy Letby."
The jury were told initially most of the collapses happened during the night shift when Letby was on duty, but moved to the day shift when Letby was later moved there. As a result of the unusual findings, doctors at the Countess of Chester invited Cheshire Police to conduct an investigation.
The force invited a number of independent medical experts to conduct a review, the jury heard, which identified that two baby boys had been "poisoned with insulin" on the unit between summer 2015 and summer 2016. Both of them survived.
Mr Johnson said: "The prosecution suggests that the only reasonable conclusion to draw from the evidence that you will hear is that somebody poisoned these babies deliberately with insulin. These were no accidents."
Mr Johnson suggested "if we are right" about the two babies being deliberately poisoned, it may assist the jury in determining whether "somebody was sabotaging" other babies the jury will come to hear about or whether those deaths were "tragic coincidences".
The case will continue this afternoon.
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