Lucy Letby seen by incubator as alarm rang, trial hears

A nurse has described seeing Lucy Letby standing by the incubator of a premature baby after his heart rate and oxygen levels dropped, a murder trial has heard.

The baby, known as Child C, is alleged to have been the second infant murdered by Ms Letby in June 2015.

Ms Letby is accused of killing seven babies and attempting to murder 10 others at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Ms Letby, 32, denies 22 charges.

On Friday, Manchester Crown Court heard from Ms Letby's colleague Sophie Ellis, who had been a newly-qualified nurse at the time and was caring for Child C on the night shift before the baby died.

Giving evidence from behind a screen, Ms Ellis said Child C, who weighed 800 grams at birth, was fed for the first time at 23:00 BST on 13 June, and she left the room briefly to go to the nurses' station, but was then alerted by an alarm from the baby's monitor.

When asked what she saw when she returned to the room, she told the court: "I'd seen Lucy standing by the incubator."

She said Ms Letby told her the baby's heart rate and oxygen levels had dropped but she could not recall what she was doing at the time.

Ms Ellis said Child C's condition resolved by itself and she sat at the computer in the room, but the infant's heart rate and oxygen levels then dropped again.

The witness said: "Lucy was stood at the incubator. I would have been looking from the computer, it was on the right-hand side."

Ms Ellis said she put out a crash call for a medical team to attend and then did chest compressions on Child C until becoming upset when the baby's mother came into the room.

She said: "It was completely overwhelming. It was very sudden, very unexpected. I did get a little bit upset.

"Lucy was stood opposite me and she said: 'Do you want me to take over?' And I said yes."

Ben Myers KC, defending, suggested Ms Letby was not in the room at the time when Child C's condition had deteriorated and came in after resuscitation started.

Ms Ellis said: "I don't agree with that."

Another nurse, Melanie Taylor, told the court she remembered going to Child C's incubator after he deteriorated.

She said: "When I first approached the incubator Lucy was already there and I don't know if anybody else was present at that time or not."

Mr Myers said in a statement given to police in 2018, Ms Taylor did not mention Ms Letby, but remembered being called over to the incubator by Ms Ellis.

He said: "You put Lucy Letby right in the centre of this in evidence to the jury in a way you didn't when you made a statement to police."

Ms Taylor replied: "I'm just saying what I remembered."

The court has heard Ms Letby, originally from Hereford, was designated to look after a baby in a different room at the time of Child C's collapse.

Child C died just before 06:00 on 14 June 2015, the court heard.

A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of surviving and dead children allegedly attacked by Ms Letby, and also prohibits identifying parents or witnesses connected with the children.

The case has been adjourned until Monday.

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