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

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  • #341
  • #342






Dan O'Donoghue

@MrDanDonoghue
·
2m

We're back after a break. Mr Johnson is continuing to take the jury over the final moments of Child P's life on 24 June 2016
 
  • #343
2:10pm

The trial judge, Mr Justice James Goss, says as the day will end a little earlier than usual, this afternoon will be one extended session without a break.
Mr Johnson describes what happened for the final collapse for Child P, after the transport team had arrived.
He says despite Child P's situation, there was good air entry and the ET Tube was in a good place. There was "no explanation" for why Child P's condition had changed, according to a doctor.

2:14pm

At 4pm, it was determined the resuscitation attempts were futile. The father said the circumstances for Child P's death were similar to Child O, but could not recall seeing a veiny appearance for Child P (as he had done with Child O).
The mother said the third triplet had no problems and was discharged after 11 days. Mr Johnson says that should have been the case with all three.
A female consultant said Letby was "animated" and "so excited" asking about a memory box and her behaviour was "inappropriate". In cross-examination, the 'talking enthusiastically' was said that it would 'soften the blow' for the grieving parents who had lost two of the three triplets.
NJ: "We suggest that is absurd. Lucy Letby was enjoying the drama, the control, the extremity of grief that she was causing to other people."
The father, in the aftermath of Child P's death, was "sobbing" and begged doctors to transfer the third triplet to be taken with the transport team. The female doctor said what had happened was "not normal".


 
  • #344
All this put together is almost too much to bear. God knows how it feels for the parents. :(
To think of these babies fighting for their lives is beyond heartbreaking.
 
  • #345
2:17pm

Mr Johnson: "Something was seriously wrong. They just couldn't put their finger on it."
The female doctor had said in cross-examination she was not dramatising anything, the situation was dramatic enough as it was.
Mr Johnson says nothing was identified medically as the cause of Child P's death.
Dr Brearey said the deaths of Child O and Child P caused him great concern. The rash, he had not seen before or since.
At the debrief, Dr Brearey asked Letby how she was feeling, and suggested she needed time off, "but she didn't seem upset", and was due to work the next day. Mr Johnson said that caused Dr Brearey "real concern".

2:23pm

Dr Andreas Marnerides did not look at the cases in the context of any other.
There was "no natural cause" for Child P's death. He concluded Child P had "excessive air injected into the nasogastric tube".
Dr Evans said there was no natural cause, and the cause was air administered.
Dr Bohin pointed out a discrepancy between Letby's 'Neopuff' note and it not being mentioned to Dr Ukoh when he examined Child P, Mr Johnson says.
Mr Johnson says this is "yet another false example" in the notes, designed to create the impression Child P had an ongoing problem.


Dan O'Donoghue
@MrDanDonoghue
·
1m

After the death of Child P, a doctor said Ms Letby appeared animated. She was said to be 'talking enthusiastically' about making a memory box for the infant. This was characterised as 'inappropriate' by a doctor on shift

·
1m

Mr Johnson says Ms Letby's defence was that a memory box would 'soft the blow' for the parents, he said this was 'absurd' and added: 'she was enjoying the drama, enjoying the control, the extremity of the grief caused to other people'
 
  • #346
"A feeding chart is presented to the court.
All the feeds from 8am-4pm are signed by a student nurse and co-signed by Letby.
The 6pm feed is signed only by Letby."

[...]

11:04am

In police interviews, Letby said the student nurse fed Child P at two-hourly intervals on June 23, and she had fed Child P alone at 6pm.

Lucy Letby trial recap: Prosecution finishes outlining case, defence gives statement

eta - child P did not collapse and die until the afternoon of the following day, so admitting to this feed was probably not seen by her as anything to hide when she was being interviewed by police. Now that the prosecution pointed out the patterns and her alleged sabotage as a prelude to his death, she denies she fed him that evening. JMO

Thank you very much for your reply— and for everything you do here.
So it’s clearly documented the feed was given by LL— and she testified she didn’t give that feed?
Basically refuting her own documentation.
 
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  • #347
2:27pm

Dr Bohin also said Child P had been injected with air, Mr Johnson says.
Mr Johnson says if the jury conclude Child O received a liver injury through some inflicted trauma, then Child P's liver injury the following day can be explained by Letby's actions.
NJ: "Lucy Letby predicted [Child P's] death when Dr Brearey thought it was under control. How could she have known?"
"The number of coincidences here is all too much. [Child O and Child P] were murdered by Lucy Letby."

2:30pm

Mr Johnson says Letby had said she had taken one note/handover sheet home deliberately as it contained information to write up as nursing notes when she returned to work. Mr Johnson says the note only included 'caffeine', so her reason for keeping it was 'a lie'.
Mr Johnson says one of the handover sheets contained a name of one of the baby's parents, a difficult to spell name, that she could research on Facebook later.
He says Letby's explanations for keeping the handover sheets don't stand up "to any sensible analysis".

 
  • #348
Thank you very much for your reply— and for everything you do here.
So it’s clearly documented the feed was given by LL— and she testified she didn’t give that feed?
Basically refuting her own documentation.
Yes she testified the student gave that feed, even though she agreed it was her own handwriting on the chart.
 
  • #349
2:34pm

1687268298647.png

Mr Johnson refers to this note. He says the words 'I AM EVIL I DID THIS' should be taken literally.

He says the 'anguish', as the defence said was Letby's frame of mind, needs to be taken into context. He says Letby introduced the suggestion she was "isolated" to explain the notes and her behaviour.

On the final day of cross-examination, the contents of Letby's phone, diary and photographs "set out her social life" from July 2016- July 2018.

Letby "accepted" she had "a very, very active social life" with incuded "socialising with many of her former colleagues" including "those she had been forbidden from having contact with".

She said she was "at least allowed a social life". Mr Johnson says it was "never our suggestion" that she wasn't allowed to have a social life. He says Letby was "deliberately trying to mislead you" and trying to invoke "pity" from the jury.

NJ: "We say she is a liar, she lied to you, and the lie is proved by analysis of her social life."

2:37pm

Mr Johnson recaps the seven baby's cases he has dealt with so far, of the total 17.
He says if they are all taken into context, the "picture is crystal clear".
He says he will take the next cases in chronological order, with twins Child A and Child B.

 
  • #350
2:23pm

Dr Andreas Marnerides did not look at the cases in the context of any other.
This is one of the key points to how she got away with it, if guilty, IMO
 
  • #351
Dan O'Donoghue

@MrDanDonoghue
·
4m

Mr Johnson turns to some of the notes found at Ms Letby's home, he says of the note below - in which she wrote I am evil, I did this - it 'should be read literally and taken as a confession'

Dan O'Donoghue

@MrDanDonoghue
·
3m

Mr Johnson says Ms Letby's defence argued these notes were the outpouring of a desperate and anguished young woman, who had been removed wrongly from her job - he rejects this

Dan O'Donoghue

@MrDanDonoghue
·
2m

'We say she has been deliberately trying to mislead... invoking pity on your part and trying to deflect you from the obvious and literal meaning of those words, we say she is a liar and has lied to you', Mr Johnson said
 
  • #352
2:40pm

Mr Johnson says the judge directed that the questions given by counsel are not the evidence, but the answers.
He asks if Dr Jayaram and Dr Harkness 'made up' their observations for Child A and Child B to blame Letby.
He says before the cases of Child A and Child B, Letby had completed a course on IV lines, which highlighted the dangers of air embolus. Mr Johnson asks if that was a "coincidence".

1687268730098.png

1687268750564.png

 
  • #353
2:44pm

Mr Johnson says Child A had been doing well and was on hourly observations, and handling well.
Child A crashed minutes after Letby came on duty. Mr Johnson says there is no doubt Letby had been involved with Child A's care.
He says the evidence was that Lucy Letby was "literally standing over him" at the time of the collapse.
He says the circumstances of the collapse are similar to that of Child L and Child M, with Letby "operating in plain sight".

2:50pm

Mr Johnson says despite air going in and out, Child A's saturation levels and heart rate were falling.
He says Dr David Harkness described "very unusual patches of skin [discolouration]" which he had "never seen before" and only saw once again with Child E.
He described "patches of blue, purple, red and white" that didn't fit with Child A's condition, and the rash "flitting around". He said he was too busy trying to save Child A's life to get a full description. He was criticised in cross-examination for not noting it down.
It was suggested by the defence that he had been influenced to apply this description to Child A, and not putting this in his statement. Mr Johnson asks what the implication was - that he didn't see anything? It was suggested discussions had deep-set in his mind.
Dr Harkness said he had seen it in Child A and Child E, that made him realise how significant this discolouration was. He was "animated" in the latter case, Mr Johnson says.
Dr Ravi Jayaram had said Child A's heart trace showed "no problem" with the baby's heart.

2:52pm

Dr Jayaram had described 'pink patches that appeared mainly on the torso that appeared and disappeared - I had never seen anything like this before,' Mr Johnson says.
He had said it "doesn't fit with any disease process I had seen or read about".


Dan O'Donoghue

@MrDanDonoghue
·
1m

Mr Johnson is taking the jury back over the evidence for remaining children in this case. He's currently summarising what was said in relation to the collapse and death of Ms Letby's first alleged victim, Child A in June 2015
 
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  • #354
3:01pm

Dr Jayaram was 'taken to task' by the defence, Mr Johnson says, as he had not mentioned the discolouration in notes. He said he had not realised the significance of it at the time, and only realised it when later examples came up in other babies.
Mr Johnson says the accusation by the defence that Dr Jayaram had made it up is "smoke and mirrors" to distract jurors from the truth.
He says there is other evidence, not disputed, to back Dr Jayaram's account.
He refers to Letby's July 2018 police interview. Letby had referred to the rash for Child A as a 'rash like' 'reddy-purple' 'more on the side that had his line in - it was his left'.
NJ: "How did Lucy Letby remember that? Because it wasn't actually in her notes - just like Dr Jayaram and Dr Harkness."
Mr Johnson says Letby referred to it as 'normal mottling' and Child A was 'more pale than mottling'. Mr Johnson says that is "a lie".
Mr Johnson says if Letby accepts that as "unusual", it "causes real problems for her defence". He says Letby used the word 'blotchiness' for Child A in police interview. Letby had said 'mottling' and 'blotchiness' were interchangeable.

3:06pm

Mr Johnson says Letby had said in cross-examination, if it was agreed Child A had died of an air embolus, then it would have been administered by colleague Melanie Taylor, and not by her.
NJ: "We suggest Lucy Letby was as good as accepting that [Child A] died of an air embolus.
"But it doesn't end there."
Mr Johnson says Letby's nursing colleague, a friend, came into the unit when Child A collapsed and did CPR for Child A, and noted a 'strange skin discolouration' she had "never seen before". He says the colleague described "blotchiness" - the same word Letby had used in her defence.
The colleague was challenged on the description for Child A's skin discolouration, that it might have been mixed with the description for Child B.
She said she had not been influenced by what anyone had said.
Mr Johnson says the nursing colleague was not accused of making it up. He says it is the defence's case to picture the "doctors are bad".

 
  • #355
Extremely powerful today, very hard reading so can’t imagine how the parents must be feeling having to listen to this.

I never noticed how this text in bold sounds before…
Letby messaged: "Blew up abdomen think it's sepsis" to a nursing colleague at 9.15pm and, for Child P the following day: "Just blew tummy up and had apnoeas, downward spiral. Similar to [Child O]."

If guilty, IMO it almost sounds like there should be ‘I’ infront of this. If guilty, was it a slip of the subconscious. (I) just blew tummy up (with air)…
Maybe reading too much into it.

Round of applause for NJ though today was difficult reading and for the first time I feel relieved that it’s an early finish.

MOO
 
  • #356
Dan O'Donoghue

@MrDanDonoghue
·
1m

Mr Johnson says during the evidence on Child A, there was an attack on the credibility of a number of doctors - he said this attack 'had a number of aims, first designed to deflect you from the evidence, make the case about personalities rather than about evidence'

Dan O'Donoghue

@MrDanDonoghue
·
1m

Mr Johnson says this was part 'of an overall strategy to try to destabilise' one doctor - Dr Ravi Jayaram - who's 'been an important witness in several of the cases'

Dan O'Donoghue

@MrDanDonoghue
·
44s

Mr Johnson says Ms Letby's defence is 'essentially nurses are good and overworked and doctors are bad, doctors are seeking to cover up their own shortcomings by blaming Lucy Letby for deaths and collapses'
 
  • #357
3:11pm

Dr Rachel Lambie had described 'blotchy' 'purple' marks which would appear and disappear on Child A, Mr Johnson said.
She said she had "never seen anything like it before", with "flushes of what looked like bruising underneath" "that would appear for 10 seconds, go, then appear somewhere else", Mr Johnson adds.
Mr Johnson says all the other colleagues had proved what Dr Harkness and Dr Jayaram was saying was the truth. He asks the jury if that is the case, then what purpose is the attacks on their integrity?
He says the purpose was to deflect the jury from the evidence, to make it about personalities, to destabilise Dr Jayaram "who has been an important witness in many cases", including for Child K.
NJ: "Lucy Letby knows how devastating his evidence is in the case of [Child K]."
He says it is the defence's case that the nurses are overworked and the doctors are "bad", that there is a "medical conspiracy" involving the "gang of four", and an unnamed police officer 'tipped off' Dr Evans about air embolus.

3:13pm

Mr Johnson says after Letby got home, she advised Melanie Taylor about an administrative note, then searched for the mother of Child A on Facebook.

 
  • #358
The defence has worked so hard to say the colourful patches mean nothing or weren't there, and in the next breath to say it's not evidence of an air embolus.

Same as denying she was there, and denying she touched the lines etc, when what does she have to hide from if it's all natural causes?

It seems to be admission of the causes of death.

MOO
 
  • #359
3:22pm

Mr Johnson turns to the case of Child B.
Mr Johnson says "we know that Letby didn't like" being in nursery room 3, and there are "many" text messages sent between Letby and four people over the course of two hours.
Five minutes after Child B desaturated around midnight on the June 9-10 shift, Mr Johnson says, Letby turned up in room 1 as she co-signed for medication. No-one signed for the observation readings for Child B at midnight. Letby has signed for a blood gas reading for Child B at 12.16am. Child B had collapsed at 12.30am.
The mother of Child A and Child B said it was "a very similar situation to [Child A]", and the consultant asked for pictures to be taken of the mottling as she had "never seen it before". By the time a camera had been sourced, the mottling had disappeared.
Dr Lambie had made a note of the discolouration at the time.
A nursing colleague said Child B "suddenly looked very ill - like her brother the night before", with the discolouration. Mr Johnson says the colleague had said: "Oh no, not again", and made a note of it, which read "changed rapidly to purple blotchiness with white patches".

 
  • #360
WOW! NJKC has just done such a fabulous job of linking all the similarities between the attacks, these similarities simply cannot be ignored as they blind the reader, so goodness knows what effect it has on the listenener.
The prosecution at this stage seems conclusive obvious for justice we have to hear the defence. I don’t envy their job.
This is MOO
I apologise for this being bold but I just couldn’t get it on grrrr
 
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