Lucy Letby denies covering up murder of premature baby girl

Nurse Lucy Letby has denied "cooking the records" to cover up the alleged murder of a premature baby girl.

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

On her 10th day of giving evidence in her own defence, the 33-year-old was accused of falsifying medical documents for the baby.

Ms Letby denies all of the 22 charges against her at Manchester Crown Court.

The nurse, originally of Hereford, also denied "getting a thrill" at watching the baby's grieving parents bathe their daughter, referred to in court as Child I, following her death.

Comparing medical notes made by Ms Letby during the night shift on 13 to 14 October 2015 with other clinical notes, Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC accused her of deliberately documenting misleading information.

It is claimed this was written to cover up a third attempt to deliberately harm Child I.

"This is another example of you writing a nursing note which created an impression of a more gradual decline than what really happened," Mr Johnson suggested.

Ms Letby replied: "No. I don't agree."

"You sabotaged [Child I] at about 06:00 GMT?" Mr Johnson said.

"No," the nurse replied.

The court heard how Child I was transferred to Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside on 15 October before returning to the Countess of Chester Hospital two days later.

During the night shift on 21 to 22 October, Ms Letby had been designated another baby, who was being transferred back to the Royal Stoke University Hospital, the jury was told.

Mr Johnson accused Ms Letby of falsifying a medical chart for this baby to change one of the times to appear as if she was busy.

"This is where I'm suggesting you have cooked the records again," he said.

Ms Letby denied this, adding: "It was obviously written in error and I've corrected it."

The court was also shown another medical document where the timings appeared to have been amended.

"That's three mistakes within 25 minutes," Mr Johnson said. "They've changed because you've changed them."

"I don't know who has changed them," Ms Letby said.

Mr Johnson: "How do those sorts of mistake happen?"

Ms Letby: "When there's a lot going on at the unit we may have written the wrong time."

Mr Johnson: "We?"

Ms Letby: "That I believe there will have been two of us together."

Mr Johnson "You are altering medical records to put some time between yourself and serious events with Child I?"

Ms Letby: "No."

She said she could not say who had "overwritten that", and repeated: "I did not deliberately falsify any paperwork."

The court has previously heard from Child I's mother, who said Ms Letby had come into the room while the parents were bathing their daughter following her death.

"Lucy came back in and she was smiling and going on about how she was present at [Child I's] first bath and how much Child I had loved it," the mother recalled.

"Why would you say that?" questioned Mr Johnson.

The nurse said she had been trying to refer to a positive memory "in this awful situation".

"We still talk to babies, we still treat them like they are alive. I wasn't joking, it wasn't said with any malice. I was just trying to reflect on a happy memory."

Mr Johnson: "You were getting thrill out of what you were watching, the grief, the despair?"

Ms Letby: "Absolutely not."

The trial continues.

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