The jury in the Lucy Letby trial have started to hear witness statements from some of the baby’s families.
The former nurse has been charged with the murder of seven babies, as well as the attempted murders of a further 10 whilst working on the neonatal ward at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Letby denies all the charges against her.
On Monday, jurors at Manchester Crown Court began to hear evidence about the first two alleged victims – twins who suffered sudden collapses just one day after being born.
Lucy Letby
Chester Standard / SWNS.com
The prosecution read out witness statements from the parents and one of the grandparents for Child A and Child B – twins born in June of 2015.
The prosecution alleges Lucy Letby murdered Child A by injecting a fatal amount of air into his blood stream, and that she attempted to murder Child B via the same method.
Each statement gave an individual account of both the build-up to the twins being born, as well as the sequence of events that followed.
In the mother’s statement, she spoke of giving birth via C-section, and that, once born, although Child A seemed fine, Child B was having some issues with breathing.
The court then heard about the decline in Child A’s health, and about the resuscitation process. The statement also gave details of how the mother had struggled to give them permission to stop performing CPR.
In the father’s statement, he recalled telling his partner they “had to let him go.” He also said: “It’s one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do - to let my son go.”
Once Child A had died, the court heard about how panicked the mother was for the safety of Child B, and that she has wanted a family member to remain with her baby at all times.
The account then detailed how at a later stage; she had been told to “come quickly” as something was wrong with Child B. The jury heard that she had pleaded “not my baby, not again.”
But once Child B’s parents reached her, her condition had been stabilised.
The trial at Manchester Crown court has now entered its second week and is expected to last for a total of six months.
