Lucy Letby was one of only two nurses who could have potentially assaulted two baby boys by contaminating their feeding bags with insulin, she learned in her murder trial today.
Shift work at Countess of Chester Hospital showed that only the alleged killer and a colleague, Belinda Simcock, were working in the neonatal ward at the time the babies were attacked eight months apart.
The prosecutor at Manchester Crown Court alleges Letby, 33, contaminated at least three TPN bags used by nurses to give intravenous feedings to babies in their care.
Letby, 33, from Hereford, denies killing seven babies and trying to kill 10 others.
Baby F, one of twins, unexpectedly collapsed in August 2015, and Baby L, also one of twins, suffered a similar life-threatening episode in April 2016. Both babies survived, prosecutors say, only because of the skill of medics working alongside Letby.
Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby denied she got a ‘thrill’ from seeing grieving parents who lost their baby
Nick Johnson KC, prosecutor, said that in the two cases, the baby’s blood sugar inexplicably dropped to dangerously low levels.
However, at the time, the medical staff attributed the episodes to natural causes, because “it just didn’t occur to the medical staff that someone from the NNU might have injected them with insulin.”
As a result, he previously told the jury, “the poisoner thought she got away with it.”
Today Mr Johnson said Baby F and Baby L had been ‘selected’ by Letby, with the nurse contaminating their feeding bags as soon as they were brought onto the ward.
Letby is on her 11th day of testifying from the witness stand at the murder trial
Under cross-examination, the nurse said she accepted expert evidence that in Baby L’s case, the insulin must have been administered sometime between midnight and 9:30 a.m. on April 9, 2016.
She also accepted that there would be “no reason” for anyone to do this and that it would be “very dangerous.”
When the lawyer suggested that the insulin had been administered while the dextrose sachet was hanging, she replied, “I don’t know.”
He went on to ask whether it followed that it was a targeted attack.
“I can’t answer that,” Letby said.
After a pause, she added, “Not by me, it wasn’t.”
Mr. Johnson told her, “Isn’t it the reality that unless there’s more than one poisoner, it must be you or Belinda Simcock?”
Letby replied, “I can only answer for myself and I’ve never bagged insulin before.”
Letby, 33, originally from Hereford, denies killing seven babies and trying to kill 10 others
Previously, the neonatology nurse denied trying to sabotage Baby K by removing her ET tube on three separate occasions.
She claimed to have no memory of Ravi Jayaram, an adviser to the unit, walking to Nursery 1 and seeing her standing over the collapsing K.
“I can’t remember, so I can’t confirm or deny it,” she said.
Mr. Johnson pressed her, saying the child was desaturating.
“I have no memory,” Letby said.
The lawyer then asked, “Do you dispute that the monitor went out in the 1980s?”
‘I have no memory,’ Letby said again.
Mr. Johnson asked, “And the alarm didn’t go off?”
“Again, I have no memory,” Letby replied.
Mr. Johnson continued, “And the cause of the desaturation was another displaced ET tube, and the evidence is that you were there occasionally.”
Letby replied, “I can’t say that, no.”
The lawyer put it to her, “And the reason was that you tried to kill (Baby) K, wasn’t it?”
Letby, sitting on the witness stand flanked by two prison guards, replied, “No.”
When asked again about Dr. Jayaram’s account of seeing her standing over Baby K, she told the accuser, “I don’t think it happened.
“I have no direct memory of it.”
The process continues.
Letby denies all charges.