Nurse Lucy Letby says she found it ‘harrowing’ to witness deaths of two triplets, trial hears

One of the babies neonatal nurse Lucy Letby who is charged with murder died her first shift back after a week’s holiday to Ibiza with two friends.

The youngster, known as Baby O, lost his life despite desperate efforts to resuscitate him.

Manchester Crown Court heard today that Letby had messaged a colleague about her return to work, claiming she would “probably come back with a bang lol”.

Letby denied today that it meant anything other than that it would be a “busy service”.

That’s what she told the jury before she found it “gripping” to witness the deaths of the two triplets – Baby P and Baby O – within 24 hours of each other.

Letby said the entire team at Countess of Chester Hospital felt “shocked and devastated” by their failure to save Baby P’s life on June 24, 2016.

She told the court in Manchester: “You could just see the whole unit was flat. It was not the normal positive vibe we would normally have.

“I was really upset to have it two days in a row. What the parents had gone through to lose two of their babies was just harrowing.”

Baby P was about to be taken to the tertiary center at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral, Merseyside, when the Chester gave up and handed him over to his parents.

In the minutes that followed, the couple begged the head pediatrician who had been sent to collect him to take their remaining triplets instead. The medic, Dr. Oliver Rackham, agreed. The baby, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is now seven years old.

Letby, originally from Hereford, denies killing seven babies in Chester hospital and attempting to kill a further ten.

During her fourth day of testifying, she was asked by her attorney, Ben Myers KC, why she had searched for Baby O’s parents on the first anniversary of his death.

She replied, “It was such a moving experience to see the parents lose two of their children. For that to happen two days in a row, you don’t forget something like that’.

Sitting at a desk flanked by two female prison guards, Letby read part of a yellow post-it note found by police when they first arrested her in July 2018.

Part of the note read, “Today is your birthday, but you are not here and I am so sorry. I’m sorry you don’t get the chance for the life you should have and for the pain your parents must experience every day.

“We did our best and it wasn’t enough. I don’t know if many people will think of you today or ever, but I will and I hope I always will.”

Lucy Letby, 33, (pictured) originally from Hereford, is accused of committing a series of murders between June 2015 and 2016. She denies all charges against her

Letby read the next part of her note and said, “I can’t do this anymore. I want someone to help me, but I can’t.’

Letby said Baby P suffered a series of desaturations on June 24, with medics increasingly having to intervene as they tried to help him.

Eventually they realized that he needed more specialized care in a tertiary center.

She said: ‘There was a growing sense of fear in the unit and a sense of relief when the transport team arrived from Arrowe Park’.

The alleged killer recalled that a female pediatrician on the ward became increasingly restless as the child’s condition worsened.

“She kept leaving to go out and smoke a cigarette, which she often does when she’s upset,” Letby added.

“I felt the same way, especially considering what happened to (Baby) O before. The doctors didn’t seem to have a clear plan.

“They just really wanted the transport team to come because the things we were offering weren’t working. They were beyond our level of concern.”

The female doctor said as proof that at one point Letby had said of the baby, “He’s not going to leave here alive, is he?”

When asked today if she had said anything to the doctor about ‘worrying he wouldn’t make it’, Letby replied, ‘I can’t remember. Possible. I have no memory’.

The process continues.