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A nurse charged with multiple baby murders was in tears as she said: “It’s always me when it happens.”
Lucy Letby, 33, made the comment amid a series of infant collapses in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital where she worked, Manchester Crown Court heard.
GP Lucy Beebe told police she saw a tearful Letby chatting with a colleague in one of the unit’s care rooms.
Giving evidence on Friday, Dr Beebe said: “I remember Lucy crying with another nurse and it was very much the essence of ‘it’s always me when it happens, my babies, there’s always a lot happening to me’.”
Lucy Letby, 33, was in tears as she said ‘it’s always me when it happens’ amid a series of baby collapses in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital where she worked, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Ashleigh Hudson was shown several images and selected the one she thought showed the lighting as it was on that day: September 13, 2015
Prosecutor Philip Astbury asked: ‘Who said that?
Dr. Beebe replied: ‘Lucy’.
Mr Astbury said: ‘Can’t you remember exactly when that was?’
‘No,’ said the witness.
Dr Beebe said she cared for a prematurely born girl, Child I, during her period as a trainee doctor at the Countess of Chester.
The Crown says neonatal nurse Letby murdered Child I in the early hours of October 23, 2015.
It was said to be her fourth attempt to deliberately harm the baby after previous attempts on September 30, October 13 and 14.
Dr Beebe said: “I remember (Child I) because it was unusual for him to appear well and then get sick.”
“In my memory, I felt like they sent her to a tertiary center, she recovered quickly, and then they brought her back very quickly.
“It certainly stuck in my memory because it had never happened to a baby that I had been involved in caring for before or since, in any of the neonatal units that I worked on.”
When asked about his reaction to Child I’s death, he responded, “Shock and frustration at the time because on reflection I felt there was something else (Child I) that we weren’t getting to the bottom of.”
Letby, originally from Hereford, denies killing seven babies and attempting to murder 10 others between June 2015 and June 2016
“It was sad because I remember the family and the whole situation was very sad and frustrating.”
Dr. Beebe agreed with Ben Myers KC, defending, also telling police that Letby’s exchange of tears “seemed like a pretty normal reaction” given the disturbing events at the hospital.
Another nurse burst into tears when she recalled Letby telling her that a baby looked pale, even though she was standing six feet away and the baby’s crib was in a dark room with the top half covered by a canopy.
When Ashleigh Hudson went to Baby I, she found her in “pretty bad condition” and in urgent need of care.
The baby had been “very stable” 15 minutes earlier when Miss Hudson walked away from Nursery 2 to help a colleague at Countess of Chester Hospital High Dependency Nursery 1.
She made a detour for just ‘seconds’ to get some expressed breast milk which she planned to give to Baby I a short time later.
Not knowing the baby was unwell, Nurse Hudson returned to the nursery but did not immediately check on her. Instead, she began preparing the milk with her back to Baby I’s crib.
Lucy was at the door. We were talking, I don’t remember the content of the conversation. She (Then) she said she thought (baby) I looked pale.’
She estimated that the neonatal nurse on trial for seven counts of murder, including that of Baby I, was standing five to six feet away.
“She was at the door and she said something like ‘(Baby) I look pale’ or ‘Don’t you (Baby) think I look pale?’
GP Lucy Beebe told police she saw a tearful Letby chatting with a colleague in one of the unit’s care rooms.
When asked by Simon Driver, prosecution, what the light was like in the nursery, Nurse Hudson replied: ‘The main light in the room was off, but the hallway light was on. So he could do things in the room and have enough light to see where his patients were and where the equipment was.’
A little light from the corridor entered the room through a window. Sometimes they were placed in front of the window, but they did not obscure much of the light.
Baby I was in a ‘warm crib’ with a ‘tent’ type canopy over the top to protect the baby’s face from being disturbed or having any impact on his neurodevelopment.
“It covers about half of the crib,” he said. ‘The top’.
Nurse Hudson said that after Letby made her comment about Baby I looking pale, she looked over at the baby.
I couldn’t see her. I could see that she was on the cot, but I couldn’t see the top half of her because she was covered by the canopy. I turned on the main light.’
Mr Driver asked: ‘When you first looked, who was closest? You or Lucy Letby?
‘Me,’ she replied.
Mr. Conductor: ‘Was there anything in the design or lighting that would have given you a better view of the baby than you did?’
Nurse Hudson replied, ‘No.’
She added: “After turning on the light, I immediately went to I and pushed the canopy back and realized it was in very poor condition.”
The Crown says neonatal nurse Letby murdered Child I in the early morning of October 23, 2015
Nurse Hudson began to dab at her eyes with a tissue and told the court how she had returned to the unit with a detective and a crime scene officer so they could take a series of photos of the layout as she remembered it.
He was later shown several images and selected the one he thought showed the lighting as it was on that day, September 13, 2015.
This image was then shown to the jury.
It shows the crib in darkness under the canopy, with a beam of light from the corridor illuminating only the end of the crib closest to where the baby’s feet would have been.
“At first he seemed not to be breathing at all, but then he was panting. Instead of a regular breathing pattern, it was something unique: very deep, ragged breathing.”
Nurse Hudson, who had just finished her first year of practice, told the court how Baby I appeared while doing a quick exam.
“It was a sound that a healthy baby would not make: almost a very, very deep breath, but by itself, not followed by another.”
Honey, he was making the ‘maybe four or five times a minute’ gasp sounds.
“I didn’t stop to examine her for more than 20 seconds before we started to intervene.
‘My first thought was that it had deteriorated so quickly that it was too late. The change in her from just before was remarkable. It was very surprising.’
She knew she should try to stimulate the baby and so she started talking to him. “Obviously, Lucy was at the door and she came to the side of the cot to help.”
Either she or Letby put out an urgency call, and as other medics rushed into the room, they began trying to resuscitate the baby.
I used the Neopuff on the wall behind her. I gave him breaths to stimulate his breathing. Then Lucy took over the airway and I moved on to chest compressions.
Dr. Matthew Neame and two senior nurses responded to the emergency call. Since she was the least experienced physician in the room, Nurse Hudson “took a step back.”
‘At first I helped Dr. Neame with the airway. I think I gave him a few breaths of air before I went to contact the parents.
Letby, originally from Hereford, denies killing seven babies and attempting to kill 10 others between June 2015 and June 2016.
The trial continues.