During Lucy Letby’s First Day Of Her Trial, The Jury Learned She Allegedly Injected Babies With Air And Searched The Victims’ Families On Facebook Afterward
In photos, the smiley thirty-two-year-old Lucy Letby might look like a run-of-the-mill, happy-go-lucky young nurse.
She studied at Chester University in the UK and graduated with her nursing degree in 2011. Then, Lucy went on to work at Liverpool Women’s Hospital and was even the face of a Nursing and Midwifery Council campaign– which raised nearly $3.5 million dollars.
But, between June 2015 and 2016, seventeen babies mysteriously died at Countess of Chester Hospital– where Lucy was employed at the time. And after an investigation was launched into the infants’ deaths in 2017, all eyes turned to Lucy.
The young nurse was then arrested three separate times before she was formally charged and remanded in custody in 2020.
Lucy is believed to have gone on a year-long killing spree while working in the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal care unit. And now, as of Monday, October 10, the young nurse’s trial has finally begun at Manchester Crown Court.
Lucy is facing murder charges for two girls and five boys. She also allegedly attempted to murder an additional five girls and five boys– all within that one-year period.
For privacy purposes, all of the children will be referred to as letters A through Q throughout the trial.
A Play-By-Play Of Trial Day One
Facebook; pictured above 30-year-old nurse Lucy smiles for a photo while at a sporting event with friends
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Lucy’s parents, John and Susan Letby, arrived at Manchester Crown Court at about 5:30 a.m. this morning. And just a few minutes later, a prison van transporting Lucy also arrived.
Lucy donned a dark blue suit and black blouse while being arraigned on twenty-two charges; meanwhile, loved ones of Lucy’s alleged victims sat in the public gallery.
The nurse pled not guilty to each charge against her. Then, a jury was selected and sworn in– consisting of eight women and four men– before the trial kicked off.
Nick Johnson KC opened for the prosecution and began by describing Countess of Chester hospital as a care facility much like the thousands of others throughout the UK.
“But, unlike many other hospitals in the UK and unlike many other neonatal units in the UK, within the neonatal unit in the Countess of Chester, a poisoner was at work,” Johnson said.
The prosecutor then acknowledged the skyrocketing infant mortality rate at Countess of Chester during Lucy’s time at the hospital– a rate fraught with cases of unexpected and unexplainable death.
“Babies who had not been unstable at all suddenly severely deteriorated. Sometimes, babies who had been sick and then on the mend deteriorated for no apparent reason,” Johnson noted.
“The consultants found the inexplicable collapses and deaths did have one common denominator. The presence of one neonatal unit nurse. That nurse was Lucy Letby.”
Following Johnson’s chilling opening, the jury learned more about Lucy’s alleged crimes. Most of the incidents happened during the night shift when guardians and parents were less likely to be present at the hospital.
And Lucy’s time spent on the night shift corresponded with the rise in deaths; meanwhile, when Lucy was moved to the day shift, there was a rise then, too.
Additionally, the prosecution shockingly revealed that Lucy allegedly poisoned two infants– known as Child F and Child L– with insulin.
Apparently, both of the children– who were boys– experienced blood sugar levels that “inexplicably dropped to dangerous levels.” Thankfully, though, they did survive after other staff members in the neonatal unit intervened.
And at first, the drop in blood sugar was attributed to natural causes– because, according to Johnson, the idea that a hospital staff member would intentionally harm a child never came to mind.
“Nobody would think in the neonatal unit of a hospital someone was trying to kill babies,” Johnson explained.
Then, the prosecution detailed how Child E and Child M were harmed– followed by the death of Child E after air was fatally injected into their bloodstream.
The term “harmed” varied from child to child. For some, that meant injected with air; for others, injection with insulin. However, Johnson believes that the different means all point back to Lucy.
“The constant presence when they were fatally attacked, or collapsed, was Lucy Letby,” he noted.
It also came to light that Lucy allegedly made as many as three attempts before killing some of the children and then searched for the victims’ families on Facebook afterward.
“We suggest it is an unusual interest, and we will see that on occasions, she searched in quick succession for several of the families of children’s names who appear on this indictment,” Johnson said.
The prosecution also described in-depth the circumstances surrounding Child A’s death and Child B’s incidence of harm.
Child A reportedly “most likely” died after being injected with air via an umbilical venous catheter or a long line. Then, Child B experienced rapidly falling oxygen levels just twenty-eight hours after Child A died.
Lucy was not Child B’s designated nurse. However, Lucy still took the child’s blood gases. Then, about thirty minutes later, Child B was no longer breathing. Their oxygen saturation level had fallen to fifty percent, and the child was turning blue.
Thankfully, Child B was resuscitated and able to “recover quickly.” However, a doctor concluded that the child had been “subjected to some form of sabotage before or after midnight on the night of June 9-10, 2015.”
Finally, the court was adjourned for the day at 11:00 a.m. this morning following Johnson’s claim that Lucy’s involvement is the “obvious conclusion.”
“You might be tempted to draw what we suggest is the obvious conclusion. Taking a step back, it is easy to get sucked in by the detail in this case but important always to keep a sense of perspective,” Johnson finished.
The prosecution opening will resume tomorrow, October 11, at 10:30 a.m.– beginning with Child C’s case.
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