Nurse tells Lucy Letby trial she was surprised to be called back to ‘stable and happy’ newborn baby

Nurse tells Lucy Letby trial she was surprised to be called back to ‘stable and happy’ newborn baby who suddenly deteriorated half an hour after she’d left her – before dying two hours later

  • Caroline Oakley said Baby D was doing well when she left her and went on break
  • But at 1.30am she was called back by Letby and another nurse after baby fell ill
  • Infant rallied but then died at 36 hours old after suffering second, fatal collapse  

A nurse today told the Lucy Letby trial of her surprise at being called back to a ‘stable and happy’ newborn baby who suddenly deteriorated soon after she’d left her – and died just two hours later. 

Caroline Oakley said Baby D was doing so well on the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital that she was about to be given her first feed of expressed milk from her mother.

But at 1.30am on September 22, 2015 she was called back by Letby – who has been accused of killing seven babies – and another nurse on duty.

‘I was like, ”What are you calling me back for?” Mrs Oakley told Manchester Crown Court. ‘I’d only been gone half an hour and had been happy with her before I left. I was just wondering what was happening.’ 

Caroline Oakley told of her surprise today after Lucy Letby (pictured) called her back after Baby D suddenly deteriorated half an hour after she left her

Click here to listen to The Mail+ podcast: The Trial of Lucy Letby

In the latest episode of the Trial of Lucy Letby podcast, Liz and Caroline focus on the case of Baby B, the twin of Baby A. She was allegedly attacked 27 hours after her brother, but survived. We’ll hear testimony from nurses and doctors who successfully resuscitated Baby B when she collapsed. Liz and Caroline also chat to experienced journalist Kim Pilling, who works for the Press Association and has one of just a handful of media seats in the actual courtroom.

She found that the previously ‘stable’ infant had suddenly lost colour and had saliva coming from her mouth. There were also discolorations to her trunk, legs, arms and chin.

‘It was unusual, and the rash struck me,’ Mrs Oakley told jurors. ‘I hadn’t seen that rash before on any neonatal baby I’ve looked after over 20 years.

‘I had not seen it before and I probably struggled to describe it. I remember it as a deep red-brown – different than mottling, different than what I’d seen before.

‘Sometimes when a baby is poorly they can just look generally white, have like a mottled appearance all over, whereas this was just like a rash specifically in those places.

‘It was just different than what I’d seen before. That’s what stayed with me’.

Baby D responded to treatment very quickly and her notes indicated she was back ‘to normal parameters’ within half an hour.

‘Because she was stable again, and the doctors were busy, we decided to let the parents rest and we would have informed them in the morning’, Mrs Oakley told the court.

But at 3.45am Baby D suffered a second, fatal collapse that went on until a doctor pronounced her dead at 4.25am. She was 36 hours old.

Mrs Oakley told the jury that her recollection was now ‘just a blur’ in her mind. However, when the monitor above D’s cot sounded she would have been sitting either in the nursery itself or just outside.

‘I remember it being very busy, and just as it had got straight D had misbehaved – become poorly – again.’ 

Baby D responded to treatment very quickly and her notes indicated she was back 'to normal parameters' within half an hour. But at 3.45am Baby D suffered a second, fatal collapse (Pictured: Defendant Lucy Letby)

Baby D responded to treatment very quickly and her notes indicated she was back ‘to normal parameters’ within half an hour. But at 3.45am Baby D suffered a second, fatal collapse (Pictured: Defendant Lucy Letby)

When she reached the infant she was losing oxygen and had stopped breathing.

Mrs Oakley called Letby to help. The two nurses tried to revive her by tickling her feet and touching her ears ‘because sometimes that’s enough to bring them round’.

Then they tried the Neopuff device, but that failed too. With the infant still not responding, they summoned the senior house officer and crash-called Dr Brunton.

Mrs Oakley continued to help with the resuscitation efforts until the team realised they could do no more.

Letby, 32, originally from Hereford, denies murdering seven babies and attempting to murder a further ten.

Her trial is expected to last up to six months. 

Letby denies murdering seven babies and attempting to murder ten others between June 2015 and June 2016

Letby denies murdering seven babies and attempting to murder ten others between June 2015 and June 2016

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