UK - Nurse Lucy Letby, Faces 22 Charges - 7 Murder/15 Attempted Murder of Babies #26

[katydid23]

Dan O'Donoghue

@MrDanDonoghue

Mr Johnson says when he asked Ms Letby specifically about each doctors evidence 'there was very little if anything' that she said was not true

Mr Johnson says Ms Letby was a 'opportunist' who targeted ill babies. He said she tried to use their vulnerabilities as 'camouflage' her actions

He says she 'probably would have got away with it if she stopped' after some of the earlier children in this case. But in the case of the babies poisoned with insulin, she showed her 'ignorance' of how synthetic insulin works and the 'biological footprint' it leaves

He says 'when she thought she was rumbled (in June 2016) she did her best to create the impression the neonatal unit was dysfunctional by putting in false datix sheets'

 

[Tortoise]

Andy Gill

@MerseyHack
·
48s

Mr Johnson points out similarities between alleged attacks on 2 sets of twins 7 months apart. In both cases 1 twin was poisoned with insulin and the other injected with air. “What are the chances of that, 7 months apart ?” asks Mr Johnson

 

[Tortoise]

11:21am

Mr Johnson says he will look at five cases in one go - twins Child E&F, twins Child L&M, and Child K.
He says for E&F and L&M, one twin was poisoned with insulin and the other deliberately administered air. The cases were months apart. "What are the chances of that?"
He says Letby "invented" other cases of problems where none existed. With Child K, it was that she was a 'serial tube dislodger', but Child K had been "sedated".
For the two poisoned with insulin, they were "deliberately targeted".
Mr Johnson says when Letby was "interrupted" for Child E, she 'invented' that Child E really did have a problem.

11:22am

Mr Johnson refers to Child E and Child F's mother's evidence, given several months ago, for events from July 30, 2015.
Mr Johnson says the mother was a "very very important" witness.
He says the evidence was that providing milk was a big priority for her twins, as it as the only thing she could do.
Child E was crying 'like nothing she had ever heard before' - 'it was horrendous, more of a scream than a cry'. Mr Johnson says screaming was also recorded for Child I and Child N.

11:26am

Mr Johnson says the mother described Child E's blood around the mouth - 'like a goatee beard'.
Letby had said the blood came from the NG Tube and the registrar was 'on his way'. Letby told the mother to go back to the post-natal ward, and had done so by 9.11pm.
NJ: "This is a head-on credibility contest between [the mother] and Lucy Letby."
"You can be sure Lucy Letby is lying on this - plainly, as any parent will understand, provision of milk and food to any newborn infant is important, and 2100 was [Child E's] feeding time."
"Crying like nothing I'd heard before - it was a sound which shouldn't have come from a tiny baby, it was horrendous...
"You may think [the mother] would have a very good reason to remember this.
"Either she saw blood or didn't - why would she make it up?"
If she did see blood at 2100, then Letby's nursing notes are "false", Mr Johnson says.

11:27am

Dr Sandie Bohin says the NG Tube for Child E had been in place from July 29 to August 3, 2015. Mr Johnson says that was never disputed.
He asks why the tube was the cause of the bleed, as said by Letby.
NJ: "It was a panicked reaction, told to a mother who knew better*, and it was designed to cover her tracks."

Recap: Lucy Letby trial, Monday, June 19 - closing speeches

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

www.chesterstandard.co.uk

*another reporter noted this as "knew no better"

 

[katydid23]

Andy Gill
@MerseyHack
·
48s

Mr Johnson points out similarities between alleged attacks on 2 sets of twins 7 months apart. In both cases 1 twin was poisoned with insulin and the other injected with air. “What are the chances of that, 7 months apart ?” asks Mr Johnson

I think that ^^^ is a huge coincidence---too huge to be believable as a random event. Both sets of twins were attacked in the same unique way, in the same unit, 7 months apart ?

 

[Tortoise]

11:32am

Mr Johnson refers to the '1ml bleed' Letby recorded for Child N.
Letby, interviewed on that, had said the tube insertion 'can cause a bleed' - "just a small amount".
Mr Johnson says the mother of Child E recorded a small amount of blood at 9pm. He says if that was the case, then Child E was 'producing lots of blood' by 10pm.
He says Letby 'falsified' nursing notes for Child E.
He says the jury "can be sure" the mother was telling the truth, as the mother rang her husband, and the phone call record "proves that" at 9.11pm, in a call lasting over 4 minutes. He says the father's evidence backs up the mother's evidence on the content of the phone call.
"Have [the parents] made that up, to get at Lucy Letby? Are they in on it? Are they a sub-gang of two?"

Recap: Lucy Letby trial, Monday, June 19 - closing speeches

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

www.chesterstandard.co.uk

 

[katydid23]

Dan O'Donoghue

@MrDanDonoghue

Mr Johnson is going back over some of the cases in more detail. He focuses on Child E and the recollection of his mother, she said in evidence that she went to the unit to feed her son and heard him making 'horrendous' screams. Ms Letby was on the unit at the time

Child E's mother said she found her son with blood around his mouth. The mum said Ms Letby told her that it had been caused by an NG Tube and told her to go back to the ward

Mr Johnson points out that the NG tube had been in place since 29 July 2015 (this incident was on August 3). He says her comment was a 'panicked' response to a mother 'who knew no better'

Ms Letby in her evidence disputed this - Mr Johnson asks the jury to consider why Child E's mother would make this up

He also notes that after the incident, phone records show Child E's mother called her husband - he said in evidence she was distressed and communicated what she had seen. Again this is disputed by Ms Letby

Mr Johnson asks 'are they in on it, are they a sub gang of two' who are trying to pin blame on Ms Letby

Mr Johnson says there's a 'fundamental difference' between (Child E's mother's) 'compelling account' of what happened and Ms Letby's. He says this is 'a head on credibility contest' and either Child E's mother is 'lying' or Ms Letby is 'lying'

 

[Tortoise]

11:40am

Mr Johnson says of all the things to see in your life, "you would remember" seeing your son "in terminal decline", as the mother recalled returning later to see efforts to save Child E's life.
He says if the parents are telling the truth, then Letby's account is a "lie".
He says there is a "fundamental difference" between the mother's "compelling account" and Letby's "lie" in the notes.
Dr David Harkness's note for 11pm, Mr Johnson says, coincides with the telephone call from the midwife at 10.52pm to the father of Child E, in a call which lasts over 14 minutes.
Letby's family communication note records 'both parents present during the resus.'
Mr Johnson says the pieces of the jigsaw 'fit only one way' and the parents' recollection is at odds with Letby's.
Mr Johnson says the prosecution say Letby attacked Child E and was interrupted first time, then attacked again.
He says of the mother's account: "It's powerful evidence - independent of the medical evidence - that Lucy Letby murdered [Child E]."

Recap: Lucy Letby trial, Monday, June 19 - closing speeches

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

www.chesterstandard.co.uk

 

[katydid23]

11:40am

Mr Johnson says of all the things to see in your life, "you would remember" seeing your son "in terminal decline", as the mother recalled returning later to see efforts to save Child E's life.
He says if the parents are telling the truth, then Letby's account is a "lie".
He says there is a "fundamental difference" between the mother's "compelling account" and Letby's "lie" in the notes.
Dr David Harkness's note for 11pm, Mr Johnson says, coincides with the telephone call from the midwife at 10.52pm to the father of Child E, in a call which lasts over 14 minutes.
Letby's family communication note records 'both parents present during the resus.'
Mr Johnson says the pieces of the jigsaw 'fit only one way' and the parents' recollection is at odds with Letby's.
Mr Johnson says the prosecution say Letby attacked Child E and was interrupted first time, then attacked again.
He says of the mother's account: "It's powerful evidence - independent of the medical evidence - that Lucy Letby murdered [Child E]."

Recap: Lucy Letby trial, Monday, June 19 - closing speeches

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

www.chesterstandard.co.uk

VERY compelling evidence I think---and it over rides any doubts about the medical experts ---it is just common sense decision about which version seems more believable

 

[Tortoise]

11:44am

Mr Johnson says Dr David Harkness, in evidence, gave a chronological sequence of what happened.
He says he accepted he had been on the neonatal unit from 9.30pm.
A fluid balance chart for Child E is shown to the court. '15ml fresh blood' is written in the 10pm column, accepted it was written in Letby's handwriting.
Mr Johnson says it was signed by Belinda Simcock [Williamson] deliberately so Letby could 'disassociate' herself on the paperwork from the incident, "so it looked" that someone else was there at the time.
Letby had said she "assumed" it came after Belinda Simcock's documentation.
Mr Johnson refers to a case in Child I, where Letby 'altered the timing' for her designated baby that was due to be transferred to Stoke.

11:47am

Mr Johnson says Letby needed an "innocent reason" for why Child E's 9pm feed was omitted, and does so by suggesting Dr David Harkness was on the unit earlier in the shift.
Dr Harkness had suspected a gastrointestinal bleed for Child E, but all the observations were 'good' and did not point to that.
Dr Harkness was "insulted" at the suggestion, in evidence, he was "out of his depth".

11:51am

NJ: "None of these doctors suspected sabotage - they all looked for a natural cause.
"It was not a level playing field - there was no natural cause."
Dr Harkness had said something had been "interfering" with Child E's oxygen flow into the bloodstream. He said Letby had been looking
"A strange pattern over the tummy area which didn't fit with the poor perfusion - there were these strange kind of purple patches.
"There were patches in one area, then in another...it was unusual for a baby [in Child E's condition]."

Recap: Lucy Letby trial, Monday, June 19 - closing speeches

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

www.chesterstandard.co.uk

 

[esther43]

"Have [the parents] made that up, to get at Lucy Letby? Are they in on it? Are they a sub-gang of two?"

'sub gang' Interesting where he's going with this..

 

[Tortoise]

12:08pm

Dr David Harkness had said he had not seen these patches - "no smaller than 1-2cm", "didn't remain constant", outside of the babies in this case - Child A and Child E.
DH: "It was something that was so unusual it's hard to give a clear description".
Mr Johnson says this was what a doctor had said. He says Dr Harkness was "traumatised" by what he had seen, in the way Child E had bled in the way he did.
He said Letby, by comparison, on the day Child E died, texted "one of those things"; "nothing to see here," Mr Johnson adds. He says Letby was "gaslighting her colleagues".

12:12pm

Mr Johnson says Dr Harkness was not one of the 'gang of four'. He asks the jury if Dr Harkness was lying. He says one of Dr Harkness's colleagues, also a doctor, recalled Dr Harkness was "animated" when describing the discolouration. He says if Dr Harkness is lying, then the doctor colleague is also lying. "How deep does this conspiracy go?"
He says Letby had described 'strange discolouration' on Child E, with 'red horizontal banding' around the stomach.
Mr Johnson says if Letby agrees there was discolouration on Child E, why was Dr Harkness taken to task for describing it in cross-examination? He suggests it was an attack on Dr Harkness.

Recap: Lucy Letby trial, Monday, June 19 - closing speeches

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

www.chesterstandard.co.uk

 

[katydid23]

OK, need to turn in before sunrise here---anyone want to continue with:

Dan O'Donoghue

@MrDanDonoghue
·
45m

Mr Johnson says there's a 'fundamental difference' between (Child E's mother's) 'compelling account' of what happened and Ms Letby's. He says this is 'a head on credibility contest' and either Child E's mother is 'lying' or Ms Letby is 'lying'



[this^^^ is where I left off]

 

[Tortoise]

OK, need to turn in before sunrise here---anyone want to continue with:

Dan O'Donoghue
@MrDanDonoghue
·
45m

Mr Johnson says there's a 'fundamental difference' between (Child E's mother's) 'compelling account' of what happened and Ms Letby's. He says this is 'a head on credibility contest' and either Child E's mother is 'lying' or Ms Letby is 'lying'



[this^^^ is where I left off]

I think both of our BBC reporters have left the building.

Thanks katydid. Sweet dreams.

 

[Tortoise]

12:23pm

"No-one now suggests seriously [Child E] had [gastrointestinal disorder] NEC." A doctor had since expressed regret that they agreed a post-mortem examination was not necessary, Mr Johnson tells the court.
A medical expert had excluded the possibility of a congenital blood disorder.
Dr Dewi Evans said stress for Child E had been ruled out, and the "graphic" skin discolouration provided by Dr Harkness was 'clear evidence' of air administered into Child E's system.
Mr Johnson says there is only one person who could have been responsible for administering air into Child E.
He says, for the bleed, "this was no naturally occurring bleed".
Dr Sandie Bohin said Child E had been "incredibly stable" prior to the deteriorations. The 16ml aspirate at 9pm "struck" her as "really odd" in that context. She was "at a loss to explain where this had come from".
Mr Johnson says this discrepancy is also seen in Child N and Child G - and the similarities are "all down to Lucy Letby's behaviour", he adds, pointing to Letby in the dock.

12:24pm

Dr Bohin had agreed with Dr Evans to say air had been injected.
The haemhorrhage seen by babies such as Child E on this scale was "vanishingly rare".
The purple patches, Dr Bohin said, "didn't fit with any explanation other than air embolous".

Recap: Lucy Letby trial, Monday, June 19 - closing speeches

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

www.chesterstandard.co.uk

 

[Tortoise]

12:29pm

Dr Bohin rejected a suggestion that stress in Child E caused excess stomach acid which caused the bleeding, Mr Johnson adds.
Mr Johnson says Child E declined within about an hour of Letby coming on duty that night.
"What are the chances of that?"
Mr Johnson says the point of circumstantial evidence is pointing at the threads of evidence, and the collapses "always happen" when Letby is in the neonatal unit.
He adds: "There are no innocent reasons for [Child E's] collapse and death."

12:33pm

He says the level of insulin in Child L was double that found in Child F several months earlier.
NJ: "That tells you a lot about intention, doesn't it?"
He says for Child A, Letby was interviewed about it and said in the aftermath she had 'asked for the [dextrose] bag to be kept' in June 2015. It was put in a sluice room, and a colleague had confirmed this was done.
He says that Letby knew no-one subsequently examined the bag.
He says Letby "taunted the police" by repeatedly asking the question if police 'had the bag' [which had insulin in].
"She thought the fact they didn't have the bag would give her a free pass.
"But she was wrong, because what she didn't know was insulin c-peptide."

12:36pm

Mr Johnson says experts had given evidence from the laboratory to show results [indictating insulin and insulin c-pep levels] from there were "reliable", and Letby had accepted this in evidence.
Mr Johnson said it was ruled out that insulin could have been applied to the nutrition bag in the pharmacy prior to its arrival on the ward. Evidence had been heard by one of the pharmacy team to this effect and it was not challenged.

Recap: Lucy Letby trial, Monday, June 19 - closing speeches

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

www.chesterstandard.co.uk

 

[Tortoise]

12:39pm

Mr Johnson says the 'murderer' had to have been working both night shifts for Child F and Child L.
"Only three" people were working both shifts. One was a nursery nurse and would not have been in room 1. Another was Belinda Simcock, and the third was Lucy Letby, who 'hung up the bag for Child F'.
Child L got "more than one poisoned bag of insulin".
Mr Johnson: "These are not random poisonings".
He says it's "obvious" who is responsible, as there is only one person who could be responsible.

12:42pm

Mr Johnson shows to the court a "tiny vial of insulin", which had been added by someone who had access to the nutrition bags in the fridge, of which there were "a limited number of candidates".
Mr Johnson says "we have heard from all of them" and there is only one candidate left.
Mr Johnson says it does not need to be found "how it was done", as the evidence shows "it was done". "Anyone, if they wanted to, could inject 0.6ml of insulin into that bag.
"A tiny amount of insulin could have fatal consequences.
"What is the state of mind of someone who does that? Is it someone who watches someone freshly born desaturating [for up to half a minute - in the case of Child K].
"Is it a sick person?
"This was a targeted attack."

Recap: Lucy Letby trial, Monday, June 19 - closing speeches

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

www.chesterstandard.co.uk

 

[Legal]

He says the level of insulin in Child L was double that found in Child F several months earlier.
NJ: "That tells you a lot about intention, doesn't it?"

Intention to kill - need to prove this for the attempted murder charge (only need to prove intention to cause GBH for murder).

So when child L didn't die, she allegedly doubled the dose. If she only wanted to cause harm she could have left it the same. Very nicely done, NJ.

 

[Tortoise]

12:45pm

Mr Johnson says "we know from evidence" that insulin is "never put into a TPN bag".
The case of Child F had been referred to medical experts as the events for Child E were "suspicious".
He says the first contaminated bag was put up for Child F at 12.25am, and Child F vomited less than an hour later. A medical expert said this was a symptom of low blood sugar, as a self-defence mechanism for the body. There was also a 'sudden rise in heart rate' as the body produced adrenaline to combat it. The blood sugar level of 0.8 was a "life-threatening situation for [Child F]."

Recap: Lucy Letby trial, Monday, June 19 - closing speeches

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

www.chesterstandard.co.uk

 

[Tortoise]

12:55pm

No other child on the unit was receiving TPN bags that day, in the case of Child F. The turnover of TPN bags was "very low" according to evidence by Yvonne Griffiths.
The bag "was only ever going to one child, isn't it?"
"It's so sly, isn't it?" Mr Johnson says the insulin-contaminated bag was going to be administered when 'the poisoner' was not on duty, to be administered by "an unsuspecting colleague" - "a member of her 'family'".
"What does that tell you about the mindset?"
"It shows you a cynical, cold-blooded" planner, Mr Johnson says.
The amount of insulin in the two bags was 'about the same', which showed there had been thought put into the preparation.
Mr Johnson says Letby "told some interesting lies" about Child F in police interview. "She claimed she hadn't been aware of any concerns about [Child F's] blood sugar."
He says Letby otherwise had a very good memory.
"You know she is lying [from] the text messages she sent to [a nursing colleague]."
Police broke the news of insulin c-peptide to Letby in November 2020, Mr Johnson adds.
The 'surreptitious' searching of Child E&F's mother on Facebook was "never properly explained."
Mr Johnson says Letby was "Cold, calculated, cruel and relentless."

Recap: Lucy Letby trial, Monday, June 19 - closing speeches

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

www.chesterstandard.co.uk

 

[Tortoise]

Dan O'Donoghue

@MrDanDonoghue
·
6m

Mr Johnson is continuing to go over the specifics of each child and was just drawing parallels between the cases of Child F and L who were both poisoned with insulin. He describes Ms Letby's actions as 'cold, calculating, cruel and relentless'