Doctor caught Lucy Letby ‘practically red-handed’, court hears in retrial

A doctor caught former neonatal nurse Lucy Letby “virtually red-handed” as she moved a baby’s breathing tube, prosecutors claimed today.

Letby, 34, was convicted last August of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others while working as a neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on one count of attempted murder and Letby now faces a retrial at Manchester Crown Court, the Manchester Evening News reports.

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Letby is charged with a single offence of attempted murder of a little girl, known as Child K, on ​​February 17, 2016.

Opening the case to the jury, prosecutor Nick Johnson KC said her previous convictions and her status as a “multiple murderer” constitute an important piece of evidence when jurors determine whether she was “trying to kill” Child K.

Before February 17, 2016, Mr Johnson said Letby had previously murdered five children and attempted to murder three others – including two attempts on a little girl – on different dates between June 2015 and October 2015.

After Feb. 17, she attempted to kill twins in April 2016, attempted to kill another boy in June 2016 and killed two triplets later that month, Johnson said.

He said baby K was born at 24 weeks and six days gestation, although doctors at the hospital wanted to transfer her to a “level three” hospital where the most advanced specialist care for premature babies is available. Because of the risks involved in the transfer, baby K’s mother was not transferred and the baby girl was born at the Countess of Chester Hospital, he told the court.

She was admitted to the neonatal unit and intubated, although she was described as doing “remarkably well”, it was said.

While the child’s designated nurse went to speak to his parents, Letby allegedly entered the nursery, despite being the designated nurse for a baby in another nursery.

Mr Johnson said: “She was alone in there and child K collapsed. »

Dr Ravi Jayaram, the unit consultant, was on the phone with the transport department to arrange transport for mother and child K to a level three hospital when he entered the nursery and found Letby with child K, it was said.

“That’s what he saw when he entered nursery 1. Child K remained connected to the ventilator and she was connected to another device that checked her heart rate and her 02 saturations.”

The machines were connected to alarms that should have gone off if something went wrong, but they didn’t. “The reason is that someone had deactivated them,” continued the prosecutor.

Mr Johnson added: “When Dr Jayaram entered Nursery 1 he saw Lucy Letby standing over Child K (who was) desaturating, but the alarm was not raised and Lucy Letby was doing nothing.

“We say that in these circumstances, the only reasonable thing a nurse could have done was call for help and/or use the Neopuff to breathe for the child. »

The intubation tube shifted, he said. Prosecutors say the fact that Letby did nothing is evidence that they can conclude that she – an “admitted murderer” – had deliberately moved the tube.

Letby was caught “red-handed” by Dr Jayaram, the prosecutor said.

The breathing tube, which had become dislodged, was removed and she was intubated. The prosecutor said Child K’s breathing tube became dislodged two more times and the evidence established Letby was there, even though the babies she was supposed to care for were in Nursery 2.

Letby “made Child K part of his business,” the prosecutor alleged.

Later that morning, Child K was taken for an X-ray and five minutes later she suffered another collapse, it was said.

Letby had officially enrolled the little girl in the unit, using handwritten notes that were found with her in the incubator, jurors heard.

Jurors saw the X-ray image which showed the breathing tube was in the correct position.

Mr Johnson added: “Five minutes after taking the image the tube had moved again. And who was taking notes again? This is not an innocent coincidence. »

He said Lucy Letby was trying to create the impression that Child K, who was sedated, had dislodged her own tube. He said: “We say Lucy Letby was trying to create the impression that Child K routinely extubated herself.

There was a further collapse when the night shift was transferred to the day shift. The nursing team leader arrived at 7.30am, when she heard a “cry for help” from Letby who was at Child K’s incubator in Nursery 1, the prosecutor said.

The problem was that the breathing tube was “too far in.” It was removed and she was rescued immediately, it was said.

The prosecutor said these were “coincidences too many”. He added that the problem (child K.’s breathing tube came loose) was the same, twice after Dr. Jayaram witnessed it.

He said that during the second and third collapses, the prosecution did not suggest she was trying to “kill” the child. But having allegedly been caught in the act by Dr. Jayaram earlier, she was “trying to create the impression that Child K habitually desaturates on her own.”

Child K died at Arrowe Park Hospital three days later, the court heard. Mr Johnson says the prosecution is not saying what Lucy Letby caused Child K’s death. She then looked up the child’s last name on Facebook.

In his opening statement for the defence, Ben Myer KC acknowledged his sympathy for Child K’s family and their loss.

He said “it could be very easy for some people to think” that Letby “must be guilty” or, “equally bad”, that they “don’t care whether she is guilty or not”.

He added: “A fair trial based on evidence is what is at stake in this case.”

A court order prohibits revealing the names of the surviving or deceased children who are the subject of the allegations. Letby, from Hereford, denies attempted murder.

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