A British court heard how a neonatal nurse tried to kill a baby a day after a senior doctor unsuccessfully tried to have her relieved of her duties.
According to Sky News, prosecutors claim Lucy Letby, 33, injected air into her final victim’s bloodstream at Countess of Chester Hospital in June 2016. Pediatrician Dr. Stephen Brearey testified that a day before the murder attempt, he told nursing chief Karen Rees that he and their unit were unhappy about Letby being at work.
“I explained what had happened and I didn’t want nurse Letby to come back to work the following day or until this was all investigated properly,” Brearey said. “Karen Rees said ‘no’ to that and that there was no evidence.”
“I was concerned about this because we had already expressed our concerns to senior management about the association with nurse Letby and the deaths we had seen on the unit.”
Breary claimed that Rees was “happy” to take responsibility for deciding to keep Letby on duty despite the unit’s dissatisfaction, Sky News reported.
Letby allegedly killed two brothers in the days leading up to the reported murder attempt. Brearey recounted Letby not being “overly upset” as he debriefed staff about the boys’ deaths.
According to Sky News, Brearey revealed that Letby’s name was first mentioned in regard to the suspicious deaths in June or July 2015. At the time, he was incredulous of Letby’s involvement.
He recalled, “I think my comment at the time during the meeting was ‘it can’t be Lucy, not nice Lucy’.”
Between 2015 and 2016, Letby allegedly killed seven babies and injured 10 more while working at Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit. She has denied claims that she injected air into the victims’ bloodstream and gave them insulin.
Previous testimony also linked Letby to the slaying of a 1.7-pound baby who reportedly had air forced into his stomach via a nasogastric tube. An expert testified that the boy was thriving at the time of his sudden death. The expert stated that he was “potentially at risk of complications” after birth, and he was receiving routine treatment for pneumonia.
However, the expert concluded that pneumonia did not kill the newborn.
A pediatric consultant had testified that he stopped Letby from killing a 98-minute-old baby, who was also born prematurely. The consultant reportedly caught Letby standing over the incubator as the baby’s oxygen levels plummeted. The consultant allegedly found the baby’s breathing tube was dislodged and that an alarm had been silenced.
Letby reportedly did not help the baby or seek backup. The consultant said he was already uneasy with Letby being alone with the preemie as he “started to notice a coincidence between unexplained deaths, serious collapses,” and Letby’s presence.
The trial continues.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast. Listen to the latest episode:
[Featured image: Lucy Letby/Handout]
