Lucy Letby fainted on duty soon after she murdered the second of two identical triplets, a court heard today.
The neo-natal nurse is accused of injecting air into the tummies and bloodstreams of the premature siblings, who died on successive day shifts at the Countess of Chester Hospital, in Cheshire, at the end of June 2016.
Manchester Crown Court heard that the three brothers were born weighing around 4lbs each and were doing well when the first infant, known as Baby O, ‘unexpectedly’ collapsed and died around 5.45pm on June 23.
Less than 23 hours later his older brother, Baby P, also deteriorated and died.
Jurors were told he was repeatedly resuscitated but doctors were ultimately unable to save him.
Lucy Letby, pictured here holding baby clothes while in her nursing uniform, fainted after allegedly murdering the second to two identical triplet, a court heard today
The nurse is accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder ten others in Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit (pictured)
Soon after his death, at 4pm, Letby WhatsApp-ed another nurse, who was not at work, saying: ‘Life is too sad…lost another triplet.’
Other Facebook messages between Letby and a doctor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were read to the court.
The messages revealed that Letby had accidentally pricked herself with a needle during the resuscitation attempts and went to A&E to have blood tests shortly after Baby P died.
She told the doctor, who colleagues had previously teased her about flirting with, that, while in the casualty department, she’d ‘made a fool of herself’.
The medic asked: ‘How did you make a fool of yourself?
Letby replied: ‘I fainted.’
The medic said: ‘I asked them to see you quickly as a favour. Are you ok now?’
Letby answered: ‘Bit shaky but ok. Writing my notes. They were reluctant to let me go as on my own.’
A jury at Manchester Crown Court (pictured) today heard text messages from the nurse to a colleague after the baby’s death
In messages read out in court, Letby (pictured) told a doctor she had ‘made a fool of herself’ by fainting
The doctor then offered to give Letby, who was late finishing her shift and had been on duty for more than 15 hours, a lift home.
Their messages resumed after he dropped her off, just after 10pm, and continued into the early hours of the morning, when Letby told him she ‘wanted to cry’ and ‘kept thinking’ about the deceased babies ‘in their cot together.’
Around midnight the doctor messaged Letby to ask her what she was doing, adding: ‘I can’t concentrate on anything.’
Letby replied: ‘Wanting to (cry emoji).’
He said: ‘Did in car, must have looked a right mess when I got in.’
Letby: ‘I keep thinking of them both in the cot together, so peaceful yet beyond words how awful it is.’
Doctor: ‘I know, dad was pushing them back to you… he stopped to thank me and I gave him a hug, it seemed the only thing to do (sad emoji).
Letby said: ‘So sad. Family all thanked me when I took Baby P in dressed. I know age doesn’t make it any easier/hard but it is such a lot to go through at a young age.’
Doctor: ‘I don’t know how it would be possible to get over losing a child, let alone two.’
Letby sent a crying emoji back and added: ‘Think may head may explode.’
The doctor later told jurors there was no ‘clear cause’ for what happened to Baby P.
Asked by prosecutor Simon Driver if he understood the ‘course his life took,’ the medic replied: ‘No.’
In other messages, Letby also said she had received a ‘huge’ lecture off her mother, Susan, 63, when she told her what had happened with the needle.
Letby said her parents worried ‘massively’ about her because she was an only child and could be ‘a little suffocating’ at times.
Letby, of Hereford, denies the murder of seven children and attempted murder of ten others between June 2015 and June 2016.
The case continues.
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