Lucy Letby trial – live: Nurse accused of k**ling babies questioned over note saying ‘I am evil I did this’
The nurse is accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder 10 other infants
A nurse accused of killing several babies and attempting to murder other infants has taken the stand for the first time.
Lucy Letby, 32, is giving evidence at Manchester Crown Court where she faces allegations of killing seven babies and attempting to murdering 10 other infants at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit.
The nurse broke down in tears in the witness box after being asked how she’s coping with her situation.
She has also been questioned about a Post-it note found in her home with the message “I am evil, I did this.”
Defence barrister Ben Meyers KC asked about a part of the note which reads “I’m not good enough,” Letby says that was “the overwhelming thought I had about myself at the time, that I wasn’t good enough”.
“Had you actually done anything wrong to hurt any babies?” Mr Meyers asks. She replied “No.”
Nurse Lucy Letby photographed sympathy card for baby she is accused of killing, court told
Nurse Lucy Letby photographed a sympathy card sent to the grieving parents of a baby girl to remember her “kind words”, a court has heard.
Letby, 33, captured the image of the card on her mobile phone ahead of the youngster’s funeral, Manchester Crown Court was told.
She is accused of murdering the prematurely-born infant, known as Child I, in the early hours of October 23 2015, which the Crown say was the fourth attempt to take her life.
Letby is alleged to have murdered seven babies and attempted to murder 10 others at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neo-natal unit.
Read the full story below:
Nurse photographed sympathy card for baby she is accused of killing, court told
Lucy Letby denies murdering seven babies and attempting to murder another 10 at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neo-natal unit
Court breaks for lunch
The court has paused for lunch and will return at 2pm.
Letby searched for parents of babies on Facebook out of ‘general curiosity’
The court hears how Lucy Letby would sometimes get to know parents of babies in the unit well if their child was a patient for a long period of time.
Letby says there have been “a couple of occasions” where she has stayed in touch with families after a baby has been discharged.
“Are you the only nurse that’s kept in touch with families?” Ben Meyers KC, for the defence, asks.
“No.”
She says she has looked for parents of babies on Facebook.
Asked by Mr Meyers how regularly she would use Facebook, Letby says: “Daily, I was always on my phone”.
She tells the court she would look up “anyone I might meet – other colleagues at work, people I might have met at salsa group, just anybody really”.
Mr Meyers asks: “When you’ve looked at parents of babies on Facebook, is there any reason why you’ve done that?”
“General curiosity, and they’ve been on my mind,” Letby says.
Letby tells court ‘no formal support’ for staff after baby deaths
Lucy Letby tells the court there was no “formal” support for staff following the death of a baby in the neonatal unit.
Asked to describe the impact of a patient’s death on nurses, she says “it affects everybody”.
Letby adds: “There’s a noticeable change in the atmosphere… we’re a small unit, we work closely together, so when something like that happens it has an effect on everyone.”
Ben Meyers KC, for the defence, asks Letby what support there would be for staff.
Letby says there was “nothing formal” but nurses would support each other and sometimes they would discuss what had happened outside of work.
“We leaned on each other,” she adds.
Court resumes as Letby explains work history
Lucy Letby told jurors at Manchester Crown her first time on the neo-natal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital was in 2010 during her university placement.
She went on to start working full time there from January 2012, she said.
Her barrister Ben Myers KC asked: “How much did you value being a nurse?”
Letby said: “Massively. It was everything.”
Mr Myers went on: “And caring for babies?”
Letby said: “I always strived to go on every course possible to be the best I could.”
Letby went on to qualify to work with intensive care babies from March or April 2015, she told the court.
The defendant said her time on the unit was from then “predominately” spent looking after the sickest babies on the unit.
Court sketch: Letby cries in court as she gives evidence
