The trial of Lucy Letby has been continuing at Manchester Crown Court today.
The former nurse has been charged with the murder of seven babies, and the attempted murder of a further 10 babies between 2015 and 2016, whilst she worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Letby denies all the charges against her.
The focus is currently on Child M – the twin brother of Child L – whom Letby allegedly attempted to murder by injecting air into his bloodstream on April 9 of 2016.
The trial of Lucy Letby has been continuing at Manchester Crown Court today.
Chester Standard / SWNS.com
This morning, the jury first heard from Belinda Williamson – a nurse who was working on the neonatal ward alongside Lucy Letby that day.
She spoke about an alarm concerning Child M which had sounded at around four o’clock that afternoon. The court heard that this alarm was in response to bradycardia (when the heart rate is too slow), and about how Williamson believed the various on-duty nurses had reacted to it.
The court also heard from Dr Ravi Jayaram, who had also responded when the alarm sounded for Child M.
He told the jury that, by the time he had arrived, Child M had already received three shots of adrenaline. He explained that, as a result of the bradycardia, Child M was not breathing for himself, and that “his cardiac output was not sufficient.”
He also spoke of the resuscitation attempts being made, and how, at one stage, they had considered “withdrawing” CPR.
However, he went on to say that Child M had suddenly started to recover, although he “wasn’t sure” what they had done that had made him better.
Furthermore, Jayaram went on to tell the court that, in June of 2016, after the large number of “unusual, unexpected and inexplicable events” on the neonatal unit, the entire consultant body sat down to discuss them.
Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Lucy Letby appearing in the dock at Manchester Crown Court. Picture date: Monday October 10, 2022.
Elizabeth Cook
He recalled that air embolus (when air or gas gets into the bloodstream) had been suggested as a potential cause, and that he had gone home to research this theory. He told the jury that he remembered “the physical chill” that had gone down his spine when he realised this suggestion fit with what they had been seeing.
The jury also heard this morning about some observations Jayaram had made about Child M’s skin at the time. He said he had seen “very bright pink patches” on the baby’s torso, that had “flitted” about.
He also told the court that he had not included these observations in his clinical notes from that day, because he said it “wasn’t the priority” at the time.
Whilst questioning for the defence, Benjamin Myers KC suggested that him leaving this information out was perhaps “incompetent.” Proceedings then became quite heated between Myers and Jayaram as a back-and-forth ensued regarding the omission of this information and the implications it may have had.
Court has been adjourned for the day and will continue again tomorrow (Thursday) morning.
