UK - Nurse Lucy Letby Faces 22 Charges - 7 Murder/15 Attempted Murder of Babies #4

[gc105]

12:11pm

The father said the mum did not have the opportunity to see the children that first night, having had general anaesthetic for the birth.
He said he took several photos of Child A and B in the neonatal unit that night, and showed them to the mum.
The mum had said no-one else in the family was allowed to see the children before she had the opportunity to do so.


12:17pm

The father said the mum was getting increasingly anxious to see the children, and with assistance, was able to get in a wheelchair to the neonatal unit.
The father remembered "a nurse called Lucy" explained the baby monitor machines to him, as he was nervous about them.
The parents returned to the delivery room after about an hour.
Later, they were told by a nurse to come to the neonatal unit: "There's something wrong."
"You need to come quick, it's twin 2."
I can only remember seeing 'hundreds' of people trying resuscitate.
"We were asked if we were religious, and if we would like to say a prayer."
The parents were told resuscitative attempts had failed.
"Neither one of us wanted to say stop.
"[The mum] was hysterical.
"I said something along the lines of 'you have to let him go, he's not there any more, you have to let him go'.
"She nodded her head and that gave permission.
"One thing that upsets us both is we never had the chance to hold [Child A] when he was alive.
"We were told he was doing fine, breathing by himself, and doing well."

 

[gc105]

12:20pm

While the mum rested, the father stayed with other family members and Child B.
The father said Child A was brought to them by Lucy Letby, prior to the child's transfer to Alder Hey for a post-mortem examination.
Upon their return, they were asked if they wanted to hold Child B. The father said he was too scared to, because of Child B's tiny size, and the child needed to be kept in an incubator or her body temperature would drop.

 

[gc105]

12:23pm

It was 'shortly after shift change-over' at 8pm when the parents returned to the neonatal unit and had had very little sleep. The other family members had left the unit for rest.
This was the first time since that none of the family members were by Child B.
It was shortly afterwards when a nurse came in to say: "You need to come now"
The father said: "I didn't know what to think. My heart sank."
They found Child B had stabilised, after the oxygen saturation levels had fallen sharply.
The father had said the consulatant nurse had given a 'crossed-fingers' to the nurse on duty when she left, as a 'good luck - I hope the child survives]'.

 

[gc105]

12:25pm

Child B was in the neonatal unit for a further 4 weeks, and the mum went to hospital on a daily basis, including after she had been discharged as a patient herself, arriving at 9am.
The father said they had wanted to be kept updated on Child B, day and night, 'no matter what'.

 

[gc105]

12:30pm

The third 'agreed fact' statement is from the grandmother of Child A and B.
She recalls the whole family was "thrilled" at the news of the pregnancy, and were aware of her daughter's blood condition, and arrangements had been made for her treamtent prior to, and for the delivery itself.

 

[gc105]

12:31pm

The grandmother recalls a "commotion" in the operating theatre, and incubators being brought in.
The mum was "quite poorly" afterwards.


12:32pm

Nursing staff had told the mum the babies were "doing well" and "both fine", the grandmother recalled.

 

[gc105]

12:35pm

The grandmother had popped in to the neonatal unit to see the babies "very briefly", noting they were "very small and fragile" before returning to see her daughter in the labour ward, as she was still poorly.
It was 'about 8.30-9pm' on Monday, June 8, when one of the nurses ran past the door, saying "It's one of the twins".
"I could tell there was a problem, my heart sank. I just immediately thought she was referring to [my daughter's] babies."

 

[gc105]

12:37pm

"Your baby is very poorly, or has collapsed - it was something along those lines.
"We went into the neonatal unit room 1. A member of staff held the doors open for us.
"The minute I went into that room and saw that baby boy, I knew he was gone.
"Everybody was desperately trying to help him.
"The room seemed full of medical staff.
"[My daughter] was sobbing uncontrollably at this point - 'please don't let my baby die, please don't let my baby die'."
The family were told the situation was not good for Child A.

 

[gc105]

12:39pm

The grandmother said a doctor had come over to say, three or four times during the resuscitation attempts, saying the situation did not look good and if Child A survived, he would likely be left with brain damage and other complications.
Eventually the mum nodded her head silently to indicate to staff to stop.


12:42pm

The grandmother recalled that the following, Child A was placed into a cot, adjacent to Child B's incubator. A nurse had placed a comfortable chair for the mum to sit in, next to the babies.
She said the mum would not leave the children unsupervised.

 

[gc105]

12:45pm

Later, the grandmother was awoken by a mobile phone call from the father.
"The only words I could remember him saying were 'the baby's collapsed, she's really poorly."
The family members made their way to the neonatal unit.
She said: "I was having chest pains, thinking I was going to have a heart attack. I was struggling to breathe, I couldnt think anything other than I hope [Child B] is OK.
"Once we got in, she was not looking good. There was mottling."
Child B later stabilised.

 

[cuecard]

My heart hurts for all the families involved in this case.

 

[gc105]

12:46pm

The court hears medical records are now going to be looked at.

 

[gc105]

12:51pm

The court is hearing from Claire Hocknell, intelligence analyst employed by Cheshire Police.
She explains data has been obtained from medical records, Lucy Letby's mobile phone, and door swipe data showing access/exits by medical staff at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit.
Nicholas Johnson KC says if that includes social media searches carried out by Letby.
Ms Hocknell confirms that is correct.

 

[gc105]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1581976619685933056

 

[gc105]

12:57pm

Ms Hocknell confirms all the evidence collated for the data records has been served upon the defence in advance of the trial.
After the defence had sight of the evidence, additional data record material was sought and added, and any mistakes made in its compilation were corrected.

*Edit - added by me: Prosecution doing everything to ensure water-tight evidence.

 

[gc105]

1:00pm

The court is now adjourning for the lunch break, and will resume later, where it will discuss the medical records further.

 

[kittythehare]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1581977691124744192

Judith is live tweeting today.

 

[Kemug]

That poor little family

 

[kittythehare]

That poor little family

She said "one of the things that upsets me the most is that I never had the opportunity to hold my son whilst he was alive - he remained in the incubator for the whole time"

She said that after baby A died, "I was frantic, anxious and extremely upset, and at that time I asked for someone from the family to remain with (baby B) for the whole time"

Baby B later developed the same skin 'mottling' that her brother baby A had before he died. Jury is shown a photograph of baby B in her incubator.

In her statement the mother said that, for a second time, a nurse came to find her on the post natal ward and said "you need to come now". The mother remembers saying "not my baby, not again"

https://twitter.com/x/status/1581968660054577152

 

[Powermjp]

This is so sad