According to court testimony, a nurse convicted of murdering infants in a neonatal hospital killed a preterm baby girl on her fourth attempt before sending her parents a sympathy letter.
In 2015 and 2016, Lucy Letby is accused of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder 10 others at Countess of Chester Hospital.
Ms. Letby allegedly attempted to kill the girl by injecting her with air, the court heard.
Ms. Letby, 32, denies 22 accusations.
Nick Johnson KC continued the prosecution’s opening statement for a third day, stating that the circumstances surrounding the girl’s death were “extraordinary even by the standards of this case.”
“On four separate occasions, Lucy Letby allegedly attempted to murder her,” he added.
The kid, referred to legally as Baby I, was “resilient,” he claimed, but Lucy Letby ultimately succeeded in murdering her on her fourth attempt.
According to him, Ms. Letby of Hereford initially injected Baby I with air.
On her second attempt, he claimed she had stood in the girl’s darkened room’s entrance and remarked that she was pale.
The allocated nurse for the girl then turned on the light and observed that Baby I looked to be dead and was not breathing.
Following a third claimed effort to kill her, it was discovered that Baby I had excess air in her stomach, which impeded her breathing.
The court heard that she was transported to Arrowe Park Hospital for stabilization before being returned to Chester.
The jury was told that after Baby I’s medical alarm went off after the fourth try, another nurse discovered Lucy Letby next to the incubator.
The infant died in the morning.
Mr. Johnson said: “[Baby I] was born prematurely and little.
“But she made it through her first two months of life and was doing well by the time Lucy Letby got her.
It was persistent, planned, and heartless.
The court was informed that Baby I’s parents were escorted to a secluded room immediately following the infant’s death.
Lucy Letby and another nurse asked the infant’s mother if she desired to bathe her child.
Lucy Letby entered the room while the mother bathed her infant and, in the mother’s words, “was happy and kept talking about how she was present at the baby’s first bath and how much the baby had enjoyed it.”
Ms. Letby reportedly sent a sympathy card to the child’s parents and stored a photo of the card on her smartphone.
During a police interrogation, she acknowledged that this was unusual but stated that it was rare for nurses to get to know a family as well as they did with Baby Is.
Earlier, Mr. Johnson informed the court that on two consecutive night shifts, attempts were made on the life of another preterm girl, Baby H.
According to him, the girl had several well-documented medical conditions, yet had experienced two unexplained collapses.
Mr. Johnson stated that when Baby H was receiving treatment in the intensive care unit, Lucy Letby “would have had the cover of legitimacy to access her intravenous lines immediately before she collapsed.”
According to him, Ms. Letby was the girl’s designated nurse on the first night, and she was taken to Arrowe Park Hospital when she fainted.
He stated, “She was stabilized during transfer.”
As soon as she arrived at the hospital, according to her mother, she had a significant improvement, which is supported by the medical data.
He stated that Ms. Letby was not Baby H’s chosen nurse the night after her return to Chester.
“A physician observed her administering oxygen and assumed she was in the infant’s nursery. He requested her medical history “he said.
“This is a pretty decent indicator of who ‘found’ that Baby H was experiencing difficulties,” the authors write.
Mr. Johnson stated, “In the instance of [Baby H] and others, as soon as children were withdrawn from the Countess of Chester and the area of influence of Lucy Letby, it was frequently followed by a sudden and amazing recovery.”
A week after the baby’s breakdown, Ms. Letby allegedly searched Facebook for the girl’s parents and the families of two other children she is accused of abuse, according to the prosecutor.
He stated that a police search of her residence revealed hospital handover records about the girl.
