Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby went “drinking fizz and going to the races” in the wake of carrying out the “calculated and cold-blooded” murders of five baby boys and two baby girls, a jury heard today.
The 33-year-old gave evidence on the last of her 14 days on the witness stand at Court 7 at Manchester Crown Court and agreed with prosecutor Nick Johnson KC that she was ‘having a good time’ during that period.
“Yes, there were times in those years when I was having a good time,” she told him.
The admission came as Mr Johnson suggested she was “a very calculating woman” who often searched Facebook for the parents of babies in the months and years after the alleged attacks to “check on how she was doing”. [her] victims’.
He also told her that she deliberately told lies to gain sympathy and attention from people, including the jury at her trial.
The 33-year-old nurse, originally from Hereford, is on trial and accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder a further 10.
The prosecution questioned her about a note she had written to two triplets – Baby O and Baby P – whom she allegedly killed (pictured)
“You killed children to get attention, didn’t you? And you’re getting quite a lot of attention now.’
“No,” Letby said.
The prosecutor questioned her about a note she had written to two triplets – Baby O and Baby P – whom she allegedly killed, along with their surviving brother.
The note began with the line, “Today is your birthday,” and continues, “You’re not here and I’m so sorry.”
When Mr. Johnson asked why she had given the surviving brother’s name, Letby replied, “I can’t answer that.”
The lawyer told her, “It’s because in your mind, as (a medic) may have anticipated, a terminal end was in sight for (the surviving triplets) had he stayed with you.”
“No,” Letby said.
Mr. Johnson asked, “Was the prospect of that exciting to you?”
“Absolutely not,” the nurse said.
Mr Johnson suggested that her claim that she had felt isolated ‘from my friends and family’ after she was eventually removed from the neonatal ward at Countess of Chester Hospital was untrue.
Letby was handed a 26-page document that the lawyer said was “laced” with social gatherings she had attended between July 2016, when she was removed from the unit, and June 2018, when police first knocked on her front door knocked to arrest her.
Some of them were with her best friend, a fellow nurse on the ward, and others with a married registrar at the hospital who cannot be identified for legal reasons.
On one occasion, Letby went to London with the doctor and was due to go a second time before the trip was cancelled.
He had sent her a message that ended with a big red heart emoji.
Mr. Johnson asked her to read it aloud, but then had to ask her twice before finally referring to the emoji. “It’s a heart,” she told him.
Letby had responded to the doctor’s love heart with one of her own, combined with a smiling face emoji.
“It’s a smiley face and a heart,” she said.
Mr. Johnson asked, “But wasn’t he your boyfriend?”
Letby replied, “It’s not a relationship at all. It’s a friendship.”
Mr Johnson further referred to a note in which the nurse tells herself she is ‘an awful person’ and laments the likelihood that ‘I will never know what it is like to have a family’.
The lawyer asked, “Why did you think when you wrote this that you would never have a family?”
Mr Johnson suggested her claim that she felt isolated ‘from my friends and family’ after she was eventually removed from the neonatal ward at Countess of Chester Hospital was untrue
Re-examined by her lawyer, Ben Myers KC, Letby said there was nothing more to the events of the social file than going out for a drink with friends
Referring to her removal from the neonatal ward and her feeling of isolation in her new role at the hospital, she replied, “I was still in that position and couldn’t see how that was going to end.”
Mr. Johnson said, “You had a good job?”
Letby replied, “It wasn’t a choice for me.”
Mr. Johnson probed, “But still a good job?”
“Good as in enjoyable?” Letby clarified.
Mr Johnson said: ‘It’s a safe job with a very safe employer.’
Letby said, “Yes.”
Mr. Johnson said, “A good salary?”
Letby agreed, “Yes, but not as much as (of) my nursing.”
Letby was handed a 26-page document that the lawyer said was “laced” with social obligations she had endured between July 2016 when she was removed from the unit and June 2018
Johnson questioned Letby about a note in which the nurse tells herself she is “a horrible person.”
The court has seen several of Letby’s notes. In some, she says she’s “a horrible person” and capitalizes the word “HATE.”
Mr. Johnson said, “You had a house, you had a car, you had a boyfriend?”
“Yes,” the nurse replied.
Letby insisted she “didn’t see a future for myself” because she felt senior staff tried to hold her accountable for what she said were shortcomings at the hospital.
Mr. Johnson asked, “But did you enjoy yourself?”
Letby replied, ‘Yes, there were times in those years when I had a good time. Yes.’
Mr Johnson: ‘Drinking fizz? Go to the races? You felt that way because you knew and had killed or seriously injured these children.”
“No,” she said.
The lawyer continued, “And that’s the truth. You’re a murderer.”
Letby replied, ‘I have never killed a child or harmed any of them’.
The 33-year-old nurse, originally from Hereford, is on trial and accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder a further 10. She denies all charges and her trial continues.
Examined again by her lawyer, Ben Myers KC, Letby said there was nothing more to the events of the social file than going out for a drink with friends.
The court was shown photographs of the nurse holidaying in Torquay with her father, David, having drinks with university friends and on a day out to Port Sunlight with both her parents.
Mr. Myers asked why she was smiling in the photos, given that they were taken around the time she was writing her handwritten notes.
She replied, “Because despite what’s going on, you have to find some kind of quality of life.”
In response to a series of questions, she denied harming babies. She never wanted to hurt babies “to be happy,” “because she was bored,” or “to get someone’s attention,” she said.
The trial will resume next week.