Published: April 20, 2023
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I'm back at Manchester Crown Court this morning for the trial of nurse Lucy Letby, we're first hearing from medical expert witness Dr Owen Arthurs - he is back in to give evidence on Child Q (he couldn't appear before Easter to do this)

Ms Letby is accused of attempting to murder Child Q on 25 June 2016 after allegedly murdering two triplets, Child O and P, on the previous two days. The 33-year-old denies all charges.

Manchester Crown Court has previously heard how Child Q, who was Ms Letby's final alleged victim, was 'stable' on the evening before his collapse. Jurors have heard that the infant deteriorated and needed breathing support shortly after 09:00 on 25 June.

The Crown say Ms Letby injected air and fluid into the boy's stomach via a nasogastric tube in an attempt to kill him.

Dr Arthurs was asked by Cheshire Police to review a number of radiographs for Child Q. He tells the court that on one of the radiographs, taken 20hours after the baby boy's collapse, he noticed an 'abnormality'

Dr Arthurs is talking the jury through the radiograph, he points out two areas in the bowel of Child Q - he says it could be a sign of pneumatosis, which is an early sign of necrotizing enterocolitis (a serious condition in newborns)

Jury are now being read summaries of Ms Letby's police interviews in relation to Child A. Cheshire Police detective Danielle Stonier is reading Ms Letby's responses, while prosecutor Philip Astbury is reading the questions asked

In that interview, Ms Letby was told about the expert opinion of Dr Dewi Evans that Child A had been injected with air - her response was 'I did not deliberately give him any air'

She was told about the expert opinion of Dr Owen Arthurs, who noticed air on radiographs of Child A - she was asked if she could explain how the air got there, she said 'no I can’t explain how that air got there'

We're now moving onto Ms Letby's interview in relation to Child A's twin sister, Child B. The Crown say Ms Letby attempted to murder the infant in June 2015

Ms Letby was asked in her interview her recollections of Child B, she recalled seeing the baby girl with a 'sort of purply red rash' and looking mottled. She didn't recall in that interview what she did after seeing the rash (she wasn't Child B's designated nurse)

Asked if she had an explanation for Child B's collapse she said 'No, there's no explanation' She added: 'I didn’t do anything deliberately to (Child B) to harm her' Asked if she was responsible for attempted murder, she said 'no'

We're now onto the summary of the interview in relation to Child C - a premature baby boy, who weighted just 800grams on birth in early June 2015. Ms Letby is said to have caused baby's death by inserting air into the boy's stomach via a nasogastric tube.

In her interview, Cheshire Police put it to Ms Letby that one of her nursing colleagues, Sophie Ellis, had told them that when she heard Child C's alarm and went in to nursery 1 to check on him, Ms Letby was already in there stood at his cotside

At the time, Ms Letby was a designated nurse for another baby in nursery three. She was asked why she was in nursery one - she responded 'I don’t recall from memory' and said she may have been in N1 to carry out checks, use the computer or may have heard C's alarm

The court has heard that six minutes before Child C's collapse, Ms Letby was texting an off-duty colleague saying that she had wanted to be in N1 as it would be cathartic – would help her wellbeing - to see a living baby in the space previously occupied by Child A

Ms Letby agreed with the interviewing officer that she was 'frustrated' by the text conversation as she wasn't receiving the emotionally supportive messages she expected

The officer asked: 'Did you cause him to collapse six minutes after that conversation?' 'No', Ms Letby said

Ms Letby agreed that she was 'feeling frustrated and upset' at not being in N1 and with the text conversation, but denied attacking Child C

We're now moving onto the interview summary for Child D. The prosecution allege that the baby girl was the third child murdered by Ms Letby in a two-week period in June 2015

Ms Letby again told police in her interview that she 'did not deliberately do anything to harm (Child D)'

Police asked Ms Letby why she messaged a colleague after Child D's death saying ‘I think there is an element of fate involved. There is a reason for everything.’ Ms Letby said she was 'not sure' and said was just 'because sometimes things can’t be fully explained'

We're now onto interview summaries for Child E, a premature twin boy born in late July 2015. The court has heard that Child E lost 25% of his blood volume before his death in the early hours of 4 August.

Medical expert Dr Dewi Evans has previously told the court that this could have been the result of an "inappropriate" use of a medical tool.

In those interviews Ms Letby again denied causing any harm. We've moved now to Child E's twin brother, Child F - who the Crown say Ms Letby allegedly poisoned with insulin

The Crown say the insulin was most likely added to the baby's Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) bag, which is used to intravenously provide feeds to infants.

The investigating officer asked Ms Letby in her interview whether anything would be added to the bag - 'no, not that I’m aware of', she said

When asked whether she had added insulin to the infant's TPN bag she said 'no' and asked officers if the bags had been kept/checked after the incident - they had not

Ms Letby was asked by officers why she had carried out searches for the mother of Child E and F on Facebook. She said she did not remember carrying out the searches, but would have been to check to see how Child F was doing.

Ms Letby was asked if she was 'obsessed' with the family of E and F as five months after they had left the hospital, she was still searching on Facebook for the family - she said 'no'

We're now moving onto a summary of Ms Letby's interview in relation to Child G. At the start of that interview, the officer pointed out that there had been a 'spike' in baby deaths/collapses in June 2015. He noted Ms Letby had been involved in all the cases

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