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Lucy Letby has denied ever killing babies as she gives evidence in the trial of the alleged attempted murder of a two-hour-old baby.
The nurse also said on Monday that she had never tried or intended to harm a newborn in her care at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England.
Letby, 34, is accused of trying to kill the premature baby, known as Baby K, by displacing her windpipe in the early hours of February 17, 2016.
Jurors were told Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill another six following a trial at Manchester crown court last year.
Giving evidence on Monday, she was asked if her defense boiled down to saying she was “not one to kill babies”.
Nick Johnson KC, prosecuting, asked: “But you’re just that kind of person aren’t you?”
Letby replied, “No.”
“You killed seven babies in this ward, didn’t you?” Johnson asked. “No, I’m not,” she replied.
“And you tried to kill six others, one on two separate occasions?” – continued the prosecutor.
“No,” said Letby.
Letby is accused of trying to kill baby K, who was born “extremely premature” at 25 weeks’ gestation, shortly after her nurse left her by displacing the baby’s breathing tube.
Dr Ravi Jayaram, a consultant paediatrician, told the jury he saw Letby standing by the baby’s incubator and taking no action as her blood oxygen levels dropped to a “life-threatening” level.
The alarm that should have gone off was silent, the court was told.
Letby told the jury she had no recollection of the incident and denied dislodging Baby K’s endotracheal tube at around 3.45am on February 17, 2017, less than two hours after the birth.
The defendant, who sat on the witness stand next to a security officer, told jurors she was caring for another baby in a separate room during the alleged attempted murder.
A feeding chart shown to the court showed Letby had signed up for a 55ml feed at 3.30am for the baby, who cannot be named. That task usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes, she said.
Letby said she also changed the baby’s diaper around the same time, judging by the baby’s records.
Letby was allegedly alone in Nursery #1 with Baby K at 3:40 a.m., “watching” the baby when her sister, Joanne Williams, briefly left the baby to inform her parents.
Ben Myers KC, defending, asked: “Did you try to kill [Child K]?”
Letby replied, “No.”
Letby said she couldn’t remember why she was looking [Baby K]the family at 10 or 11 weeks before her first police interview in July 2018, more than two years after she left the neonatal unit.
Jurors were told baby K died a few days later after being transferred to Arrowe Park Hospital 10 miles away. Letby is not alleged to have caused the baby’s eventual death.
The court was told that Letby had been involved in a grievance process at the hospital after she was removed from the neonatal unit in July 2016. Letby said in her written defense that she did not “accept the good faith” of Jayaram “as a whole” because of the involvement him in the complaint procedure.
In cross-examination, Letby was asked why she admitted in her police interview that Jayaram had seen her next to Baby K’s monitor in the early hours of February 17, 2016.
“Because I suppose the police found that to be true – that they would get the facts right,” she replied.
Letby said she “never accepted” Jayaram’s version of events and would never have tried or intended to harm a baby.
“You say that because you would not do what it is alleged, [that] What Dr. Jayaram is saying can’t be true?” Johnson asked.
“Yes,” said Letby.
Letby said in his defense brief that he questioned whether Baby K received “optimal or appropriate” care in the neonatal unit or whether the medical staff had the necessary experience in caring for a baby born 15 weeks prematurely.
The defendant confirmed it was still her case, telling jurors: “There were problems all the time [Baby K’s] time with the size of the pipe required and the delivery of the pipe and how that was managed.’
Johnson told Letby that the problems with Baby K’s tube involved someone displacing it. Letby replied, “Well, it wasn’t from me.”
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