Lucy Letby 'tried to murder baby hours after birth'

Lucy Letby is being re-tried for the attempted murder of a baby in her care

Lucy Letby tried to murder a baby less than two hours after she was born, a jury has been told.

The former nurse is accused of attempting to murder a baby girl, known as Baby K, on 17 February 2016 at the Countess of Chester hospital.

Manchester Crown Court heard the defendant- who denies the charge - was found standing over the baby’s incubator by consultant Dr Ravi Jayaram.

The baby’s oxygen levels were falling, but the incubator’s alarm was not sounding, prosecutor Nick Johnson KC told the jury.

Mr Johnson said: "We say that in those circumstances the only reasonable thing for a nurse to do would be to call for help or use [equipment] to breathe for the child.

"The reason she was desaturating was because the breathing tube had become displaced and we suggest that the fact Lucy Letby was doing nothing and the alarms weren’t sounding was because it was Lucy Letby, the convicted murderer, who had displaced the tube."

'Powerful and emotive'

Earlier the court heard the 34-year-old, from Hereford, was convicted in 2023 of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six others between 2015 and 2016.

The jury in her first trial could not reach a verdict on the attempted murder charge relating to Baby K.

Mr Johnson told the jury that Ms Letby’s "status as a multiple murderer and attempted murderer is an important piece of evidence that you should take into account when you are considering whether we have proved that she was trying to kill Baby K".

The tearful defendant watched from the dock as her defence barrister, Ben Myers KC, told the jury she "maintained she's guilty of nothing".

He said her previous convictions were "potentially a powerful and emotive part of this case".

Mr Myers added: “It’s important to emphasise the convictions do not prove this allegation.

"But convictions like that in a trial like this may make it easier to convict someone of something they haven’t done."

The retrial continues.