Former nurse Lucy Letby denies trying to kill the premature baby by tampering with his breathing tube, but prosecutors say she was caught “effectively red-handed”.
Lucy Letby is on trial at Manchester Crown Court accused of the attempted murder of the baby, known as “Baby K”, on February 17, 2016, while working the night shift in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Letby, 34, was convicted in August last year of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder six more between July 2015 and June 2016. But a jury was unable to reach a decision on the charge relating to “Baby K” and a retrial was ordered.
According to details released during the initial hearing, the notorious nurse injected insulin, milk, and air into the babies’ bodies, causing their conditions to rapidly deteriorate. She is accused of assaulting one baby, causing liver damage similar to that caused by a car accident. As Fox News Digital previously reported, 17 babies in total were killed or injured by Letoby, excluding one who was born prematurely.
Nurse convicted of killing seven babies in hospital neonatal ward loses appeal
This undated handout from Cheshire Police shows nurse Lucy Letby. (Cheshire Police via The Associated Press)
Letby is accused of moving the newborn baby’s endotracheal tube within two hours on Feb. 17, 2016. But in court on Tuesday, Letby told jurors he “didn’t do anything to harm the baby.” [the baby,]” Parents she” [she] He was found guilty.”
Prosecutors said senior physician Dr. Ravi Jayaram caught Letby “virtually red-handed” as he walked into the neonatal intensive care unit that night at about 3:45 a.m. He allegedly witnessed the baby’s blood oxygen levels plummet and Letby make no attempt to help, even as the monitor’s alarms went off.
Over the next few hours during the same shift, Letoby allegedly tried to tamper with the baby’s changing tube two more times.
British baby killer Lucy Lettby sentenced to life in prison: ‘Malevolence bordering on sadism’
Letty, a former nurse at Countess of Cheshire Hospital, was convicted on August 18, 2023 of murdering seven babies in the hospital’s neonatal ward between 2015 and 2016 and plotting to murder a further six. (Cheshire Police via Getty Images)
Mr Letby told the court that it was hospital policy in such situations not to intervene immediately but to wait and see whether the baby “heals on its own”.
But nursing advisor consultant Elizabeth Morgan said it was “not normal nursing policy” to let Baby K “heal naturally” given that he was born 15 weeks premature and weighed just over a pound.
“That’s her opinion,” Letby said when asked about Morgan’s comments, The Guardian reported. “I can’t say it’s right or wrong, but I know what the policy was in Chester.”
Prosecutor Nick Johnson questioned whether the policy would apply to premature babies like Baby K.
Murdered pediatric nurse Lucy Lettby faces retrial on attempted murder charges
A sympathy card sent by nurse Lucy Letby to the parents of a murdered baby. (Cheshire Police/CPS)
“Any baby,” Letby replied. “There’s no policy, but from my experience working at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, [hospital] At the Countess of Chester’s, the babies often recovered quickly on their own, so they didn’t go in and start doing anything right away.”
“It’s a lie that Dr. Jayaram gave me a cold,” Johnson said.
“No,” Letby replied.
Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby, 33, is accused of killing seven babies and plotting to kill ten more. (Credit: SWNS)
Mr Letby confirmed the child was given morphine at about 4am and that a portable X-ray confirmed the breathing tube was in the correct position at about 6.10am.
But 15 minutes later, just as prosecutors suggest Letby went into the daycare room to take notes, the child’s oxygen saturation dropped again. After the child’s oxygen saturation dropped for the third and final time, the breathing tube was found to have moved about one-fifth of the way from where doctors had placed it, prosecutors said.
“That’s because you pushed it,” Johnson said.
Letby replied, “No.”
Letby said all she remembers about the child in question is that he was extremely premature, but Johnson said her Facebook history shows she had searched the family’s surname two years after the child left the nursery and 10 weeks before she was first interviewed by police in July 2018.
Court sketches show Lucy Letby appearing at Warrington Magistrates’ Court via video link. (SWNS)
“[Baby K was] “I think you remember the child very well,” Johnson said. Letby denies the allegations.
During cross-examination, Johnson directly asked Letby if he was trying to kill him. [Baby K]”
“Then you [Baby K] “She habitually desaturated her oxygen and removed her own fallopian tubes, right?” he asked.
“No,” Letby replied.
Click here to get the FOX News app
“Just like you tried to kill six other babies,” Johnson said, “and succeeded in killing seven other children?”
“No,” the former nurse said.
According to The Independent, Baby K was rushed to a specialist hospital on February 17, 2016, due to extreme prematurity. The baby died there three days later. Prosecutors have not alleged that Letoby caused her death.
Letby’s trial resumes next Monday when, after closing arguments by defense lawyers and the prosecution, the judge will begin summarizing the facts of the case to the jury of six men and six women.
