Lucy Letby: Baby in extreme pain as she died, trial hears

The trial of nurse Lucy Letby has heard one of her alleged victims must have been in extreme pain at the time of her final and fatal collapse.

The 33-year-old is accused of murdering the girl, referred to as Child I, at Countess of Chester Hospital in October 2015.

Dr Sandy Bohin told the trial at Manchester Crown Court the baby's crying was "inconsolable".

Ms Letby denies murdering seven babies and attempting to murder 10 others.

Dr Bohin, an expert instructed by the prosecution, reviewed a report by another expert on Child I.

It is alleged Ms Letby made three attempts to kill the baby before succeeding on the fourth attempt.

Dr Bohin told Nick Johnson KC, prosecuting, that in her opinion Child I's death was caused by air being injected into her bloodstream.

She said one of the reasons for her conclusion was that Child I was very distressed at the time of her final collapse.

Dr Bohin said: "Nurses get a sense of why babies are crying."

She said it may be because of hunger and often a baby can be consoled by a cuddle or a dummy, but "this was very different".

"This was inconsolable crying, which is extremely unusual. [Child I] was in pain and must have been in extreme pain to be that distressed."

Cross-examined by Ben Myers KC, defending Ms Letby, originally of Hereford, Dr Bohin denied that she was "rubber stamping" the earlier report by another prosecution expert, Dr Dewi Evans.

Mr Myers said to her: "We don't know what your conclusion would have been if you'd not been provided with Dr Evans's report first?"

Dr Bohin replied: "That's correct, but my duty is to give an independent review and that's what I've done."

Mr Myers suggested that Dr Bohin was "adapting" air embolism [as the cause of death] where she had not found any other cause.

Dr Bohin replied: "That's not the case."

The trial continues.

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