UK - Nurse Lucy Letby, Faces 22 Charges - 7 Murder/15 Attempted Murder of Babies #22

[Tortoise]

12:36pm

Dr Ravi Jayaram said Child A was "pale, very pale", and referred to "unusual patches of discolouration."
Letby: "I don't agree with the description of discolouration, I agree he was pale."
Letby disagrees with the description of Child A being blue, with pink patches 'flitting around'.
An 'experienced nurse of 20 years', who the court hears was a friend of Letby, said: "I've never seen a baby look that way before - he looked very ill."
Letby agrees Child A looked ill. She disagrees with the nurse's statement of the discolouration, or the blotchiness on Child A's skin.
"I agree he was white with what looked like purple markings."
Letby agrees with the statement that the colouring "came on very suddenly".

Recap: Lucy Letby trial, May 18 - prosecution cross-examines Letby

The trial of Lucy Letby, who denies murdering seven babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit and attempting to murder 10 more,…

www.chesterstandard.co.uk

 

[ColourPurple]

Letby accepts she was in Child A's cot space when he collapsed
Nick Johnson KC moves to questions about the individual babies involved in the case.

He begins with Child A, a boy, who died on 8 June 2015. The prosecution previously told the court he "most likely" died after being injected with air.

Mr Johnson asks Lucy Letby if before Child A, she had ever known a child to die unexpectedly within 24 hours of birth.

"I can't comment on that, I'm not sure," she replies.

He later questions Letby on her location at the time of Child A's collapse that evening.

"Do you accept you were standing over Child A at the time he collapsed?" Mr Johnson asks, to which Letby says she was in his cot space checking equipment.

Letby tells the court she was in close vicinity to the baby but could not touch his lines as the incubator was closed.

Lucy Letby trial: Facebook searches of nurse accused of murdering babies read out in court

Lucy Letby, a former neonatal nurse, has been back in court for another day of cross-examination by the prosecution on Friday. She is accused of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of 10 others, and denies all the charges.

news.sky.com

 

[DinerMite]

Letby says "there's no way of knowing" from the signatures, who administered the medication between the two nurses"

x

"I didn't see it - if he says he saw it...that's for him to justify.

---

Reminds me of "they have no evidence".

 

[Marantz4250b]

How would she arrive at that conclusion?

She is denying it was targeted but admitting it was deliberate, without, she claims, being the person who did it.

Because there is no way other than it being deliberate? She just claims it wasn't her.

 

[Becky53]

12:39

Letby asked if she's disputing what the doctor saw​

The trial previously heard evidence from a doctor who said he'd observed very unusual patches on Baby A's skin at the time of his collapse.
Lucy Letby is asked by Nick Johnson KC: "Do you agree with that description that there were very unusual patches on his skin?"
Letby replies: "No."
Johnson then asks: "Are you disputing what the doctor saw?"
Letby says: "Yes."
Johnson then asks Letby if she's suggesting that the doctor is lying.
Her barrister, Ben Myers KC, interjects and says it's not appropriate to continually ask the nurse if she's accusing witnesses of lying.
The judge, Mr Justice Goss, tells Nick Johnson KC: "It’s ultimately a matter for the jury to decide whether he is lying, or she is lying, so I’m not going to permit you to ask that question anymore."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-65602988

 

[Tortoise]

Because there is no way other than it being deliberate? She just claims it wasn't her.

She can answer she doesn't know, or how would I know, or I wouldn't know. Not no. It's the common sense natural answer to that question by someone who wouldn't know if it was targeted.

No means she knows it wasn't.

IMO

 

[DinerMite]

I find it odd how much of the medical stuff she disagrees with. If innocent, why would she disagree with the blotches and descriptions given by colleagues? Surely your description would also match, surely you'd see the blotches and know the timings too?

I can't understand it. She's riding the conspiracy imo

 

[katydid23]

Because there is no way other than it being deliberate? She just claims it wasn't her.

It is not just the question of being deliberate---it is also the question of being targeted or random.

She claimed it was randomly added and was not a targeted baby situation----so how would she know that?

 

[Tortoise]

12:46pm

Mr Johnson refers to Letby's police interview, in which Letby was asked to interpret what she had seen on Child A.
Letby explained to police mottling was 'blotchy, red markings on the skin'
"Like, reddy-purple".
Child A was "centrally pale".
In police interview, Letby was asked about what she saw on Child A. She said: "I think from memory it [the mottling] was more on the side the line was in...I think it was his left."
Letby tells the court she felt Child A was "more pale than mottled".
She says it was "unusual" for Child A to be pale and to have discolouration on the side", but there was "nothing unusual" about the type of discolouration itself.
Mr Johnson asks about the bag being kept for testing.
Letby says she cannot recall if she followed it up if the bag was tested. She had handed it over to the shift leader.
Letby is asked if she accepts Child A did not have a normal respiratory problem. Letby agrees.

Recap: Lucy Letby trial, May 18 - prosecution cross-examines Letby

The trial of Lucy Letby, who denies murdering seven babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit and attempting to murder 10 more,…

www.chesterstandard.co.uk

 

[katydid23]

I find it odd how much of the medical stuff she disagrees with. If innocent, why would she disagree with the blotches and descriptions given by colleagues? Surely your description would also match, surely you'd see the blotches and know the timings too?

I can't understand it. She's riding the conspiracy imo

Yes, the same with her denying the insulin poisonings were targeted. She says NO, not targeted, but random poisonings.

How could she know that?

I think she says NO to anything that is similar to what she is charged with.

 

[Parker Knoll]

She’s also disagreeing with a senior nurse of 20 years on baby A
She’s leaking like a sieve.

 

[ColourPurple]

Letby says she disagrees with colleagues' recollection of events
Nick Johnson KC, for the prosecution, proceeds to take Lucy Letby through the evidence relating to Child A given by Countess of Chester colleagues during the trial.

A doctor told the court during questioning that Child A had "very unusual patchiness of his skin" - Letby says she doesn't agree with the description.

She also disagrees with his statement that Child A had patches of blue/purple, as well as of red and white in places.

Mr Johnson asks if Letby is suggesting the doctor's recollection is made up.

"I didn't see it, if he saw something I didn't see that's something for him to justify."

Letby also disagrees with the recollection of a nurse - who she said was a friend - of discolouration and blotchiness.

She tells the court she doesn't remember Child A having any "abnormal discolouration".

Lucy Letby trial: Facebook searches of nurse accused of murdering babies read out in court

Lucy Letby, a former neonatal nurse, has been back in court for another day of cross-examination by the prosecution on Friday. She is accused of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of 10 others, and denies all the charges.

news.sky.com

 

[Becky53]

12:55

Nurse Letby denies injecting baby A with air​

Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Lucy Letby says baby A had mottled skin, but it was not an abnormal discolouration. She says: "He was unusually pale, but in terms of the colour, it was not unusual."
Nick Johnson KC says: "The pathologist found an air bubble in baby A’s brain and lungs. Did you inject him with air?"
Lucy Letby replies: "No".
Johnson explains: "He found air bubbles in his blood vessels do you remember that?"
Letby says:"Yes"
Johnson adds: "Like babies D and O. That’s because you injected him with air didn’t you?"
Letby responds: "No".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-65602988

 

[katydid23]

Dan O'Donoghue

Mr Johnson asks Ms Lebty if she believed another nurse, Melanie Taylor, was responsible for air getting into Child A's system. She says she doesn't know why Child A died, but says if nurse Taylor attached his lines and if air embolism is the cause, then yes

Mr Johnson says 'The pathologist found an air bubble in baby A’s brain and lungs. Did you inject him with air?' Ms Letby said 'no'

Ms Letby is asked if she knows about air embolism, she says yes that it is something every nurse would know - asked what it could cause she says she knew the 'ultimate serious outcome could be death, what that would appear as in symptoms of the baby I don’t know'

We're now on a break for lunch, back 2pm

 

[Jazmania]

I find it odd how much of the medical stuff she disagrees with. If innocent, why would she disagree with the blotches and descriptions given by colleagues? Surely your description would also match, surely you'd see the blotches and know the timings too?

I can't understand it. She's riding the conspiracy imo

I don't think it is a very smart tactic from her. She's setting herself up as more of an expert on this than very senior nurses and consultant doctors. It makes her appear extremely arrogant, and for what benefit? Makes her appear rash and cocky.

 

[Becky53]

12:59

Were you playing daft in your police interview, Letby asked​

The court was told that in her police interview Lucy Letby said she didn't know what the dangers of injecting air were.
She says now that she meant she didn't know the exact pathological danger, but did know that ultimately it would end in death.
Nick Johnson KC: "Were you playing daft?"
Lucy Letby: "No, It’s something every nurse would know."
Nick Johnson KC: ""Why didn’t you say something?"
Lucy Letby: "I know the ultimate outcome would be death - how that would appear in terms of symptoms for a baby - I don’t know."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-65602988

 

[ColourPurple]

'Did you inject Child A with air?'
Nick Johnson KC says a medical review of Child A found an air bubble in his brain and lungs.

"Did you inject Child A with that?" Letby is asked.

She replies: "No."

Other doctors also discovered air bubbles. Mr Johnson puts to her: "That's because you injected him with air, isn't it?"

Letby denies that she did.

The prosecutor asks Letby if she wanted to get straight back into nursery one of the Countess of Chester's neonatal unit, where Child A was being cared for, after his death.

She agrees and says from her experience at Liverpool Women's Hospital, "if you've lost a baby in a certain cot space you go back... so you can move on from that first experience".

Lucy Letby trial: Facebook searches of nurse accused of murdering babies read out in court

Lucy Letby, a former neonatal nurse, has been back in court for another day of cross-examination by the prosecution on Friday. She is accused of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of 10 others, and denies all the charges.

news.sky.com

 

[Becky53]

13:03

The court takes a break for lunch​

Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Before they were sent out, the judge spoke to the jury about the likely length of the rest of the case.
He has now told them that it may last until the end of July. It began in October.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-65602988

 

[WaxLyrical]

I don't think it is a very smart tactic from her. She's setting herself up as more of an expert on this than very senior nurses and consultant doctors. It makes her appear extremely arrogant, and for what benefit? Makes her appear rash and cocky.

One of the other consultants also said the rash wasn’t remarkable, and only changed their statement after gaining more experience away from COCH and then realising it actually WAS unusual.

 

[esther43]

'Did you inject Child A with air?'
Nick Johnson KC says a medical review of Child A found an air bubble in his brain and lungs.

"Did you inject Child A with that?" Letby is asked.

She replies: "No."

Other doctors also discovered air bubbles. Mr Johnson puts to her: "That's because you injected him with air, isn't it?"

Letby denies that she did.

The prosecutor asks Letby if she wanted to get straight back into nursery one of the Countess of Chester's neonatal unit, where Child A was being cared for, after his death.

She agrees and says from her experience at Liverpool Women's Hospital, "if you've lost a baby in a certain cot space you go back... so you can move on from that first experience".

Lucy Letby trial: Facebook searches of nurse accused of murdering babies read out in court

Lucy Letby, a former neonatal nurse, has been back in court for another day of cross-examination by the prosecution on Friday. She is accused of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of 10 others, and denies all the charges.

news.sky.com

Letby describing 'returning to the incubator space' - she makes it sound like if you fall off a bike, you get back on'
She seems persistently oblivious to the fact that these deaths were out of the ordinary. How can you not know?