Nurse Lucy Letby ‘fainted on duty soon after she murdered the second of two identical triplets’

Lucy Letby fainted on duty shortly after killing the second of two identical triplets, a court heard today.

The neonatal nurse is accused of injecting air into the bellies and bloodstreams of the premature siblings, who died in late June 2016 while working consecutive day shifts at Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire.

Manchester Crown Court heard the three brothers were born weighing around 4 pounds each and were making amends when the first baby, known as Baby O, collapsed ‘unexpectedly’ and died at around 5.45pm on June 23.

Less than 23 hours later, his older brother, Baby P, also deteriorated and died.

Jurors were told he had been resuscitated repeatedly, but the doctors were ultimately unable to save him.

The nurse is accused of killing seven babies and trying to kill 10 others in the neonatal ward at Countess of Chester Hospital (pictured)

Shortly after his death, at 4 p.m., Letby WhatsApped another nurse, who was off work, saying, “Life is too sad…I lost another triplet.”

Other Facebook messages between Letby and a doctor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were read to the court.

The reports revealed that Letby accidentally pricked herself with a needle during the CPR attempts and went to the emergency room for blood tests shortly after Baby P died.

She told the doctor, with whom colleagues had previously teased her about flirting, that she had “made a fool of herself” in the ER.

The medic asked, “How did you make a fool of yourself?”

Letby replied, “I passed out.”

The medic said, “I asked them to see you soon as a favor. Are you okay now?’

Letby replied, ‘Little shaky but okay. Write my notes. They wouldn’t just let me go.’

A Manchester Crown Court jury (pictured) today heard text messages from the nurse to a colleague following the baby’s death

In messages read in court, Letby (pictured) told a doctor she had ‘made a fool of herself’ by passing out

The doctor then offered to give Letby, who was late for her shift and had been on duty for over 15 hours, a ride home.

Their messages resumed after he dropped her off, just after 10pm, and continued into the early hours, when Letby told him she ‘wanted to cry’ and ‘kept thinking’ about the dead babies ‘in their cots together’.

Around midnight, the doctor texted Letby asking her what she was doing, adding, “I can’t concentrate on anything.”

Letby replied, “Want (emoji crying).”

He said, “Did in car, must have looked pretty messy when I got in.”

Letby: “I can’t stop thinking about them, both in the bed together, so peaceful but indescribable how horrible it is.”

Doctor: “I know, Daddy pushed them back at you…he stopped to thank me and I gave him a hug, it seemed like the only thing I could do (sad emoji).

Letby said, ‘So sad. Family all thanked me when I brought in Baby P dressed. I know age doesn’t make it easier/harder, but it’s so much to go through at a young age.’

Doctor: “I don’t know how it would be possible to cope with the loss of a child, let alone two.”

Letby sent back a crying emoji, adding, “Think head might explode.”

The doctor later told jurors there was no “obvious cause” for what happened to Baby P.

Asked by District Attorney Simon Driver if he understood the “course of his life,” the medic replied, “No.”

In other posts, Letby also said she received a “huge” sermon from her mother, Susan, 63, when she told her what happened to the needle.

Letby said her parents were “hugely” worried about her because she was an only child and could be “a little choked up” at times.

Letby, from Hereford, denies the murder of seven children and the attempted murder of ten others between June 2015 and June 2016.

The case continues.