A nurse accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill 10 others is defending herself for the first time at Manchester Crown Court
Prosecutors allege that Letby attacked 17 babies in the neo-natal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital in north-west England between June 2015 and June 2016
Letby, 33, denies the charges and has told the court the accusations are "devastating"
Jurors have been shown a note written by Letby that says "I killed them on purpose because I'm not good enough" and "I am evil, I did this"
But Letby denies this meant she intentionally killed the babies, saying: "It meant that I didn't think I'd been good enough... and had somehow failed in my duties"
The court has previously heard that Letby was removed from frontline duties in July 2016 after doctors raised concerns
The BBC's Judith Moritz and Dan O'Donoghue are in court and are bringing you the latest here
This is a distressing case so if you, or someone you know, need help after reading about it, the details of organisations offering assistance can be found on the BBC Action Line website.
Dan O’Donoghue
Reporting from court
Nurse Lucy Letby fought back tears at times as she told jurors that she had not harmed any children on a hospital's neonatal unit.
Prosecutors allege that from June 2015 to June 2016, she murdered seven babies and attacked 10 others at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
It is said she used various means to target the infants, including injections of air into their system and insulin poisoning.
The 33-year-old has denied all charges since she was first arrested in July 2018.
Over the last seven months, Manchester Crown Court has heard prosecution evidence in regards to her 17 alleged victims, but today Letby addressed the allegations from the witness box for the first time.
Image source, FacebookAsked if she ever harmed a child, she said: “No, that’s completely against being what a nurse is.” She explained the impact the allegations have had, saying: "Everything about me and my life, the hopes I had for the future, everything has gone.”
Asked to explain a note, found in a police search of her home, which said "I am evil, I did this", Letby said she felt at the time that she had "somehow been incompetent and had done something wrong which had affected those babies".
Letby explained that she has since been diagnosed with PTSD and is prescribed antidepressants. "There were times when I did not want to live. I thought of killing myself", she said.
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
The jury are told that there'll be a 15 minute break, and the evidence will be heard in one hour sessions.
Judge Goss says: "You've heard the defendant has a long day, and she'll be in the witness box for a long time, so there'll be appropriate breaks."
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Lucy Letby has both an iPad and computer monitor screen with her in the witness box.
She's using them to look at the evidence, such as charts and clinical notes.
She also has two lever-arch paper folders containing documentation.
The jurors have the same material.
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
The court is now looking at clinical notes and observation charts which relate to some of the babies in the case.
Letby is asked to explain how she would record information on them and what they mean.
She says the nursing notes which were made about the babies' treatment should have been discarded at the end of a shift, but were sometimes in her uniform pocket, and were taken home with her rather than being put into confidential waste.
We're hearing from Lucy Letby today as she begins her defence. But for several months, the court has been hearing from the prosecution lawyers.
In short, prosecutors have argued that from June 2015 to June 2016, Letby targeted 17 babies that were being cared for at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit where she worked.
They allege that Letby murdered seven of them and attempted to kill 10 more.
She denies all charges.
To give you an idea of what Letby is accused of, here’s a snapshot of some of what the prosecution said:
If you want to know more about each child’s case, you can do so by heading here.
A warning, though, the details can be distressing to read.
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Letby's now explaining that she had a qualification that enabled her to work with babies in intensive care.
She says "that was predominately what I did".
"I was very flexible to changing shifts and doing overtime, I didn't have a family," she goes on, adding: "I did enjoy intensive care work. I think all nurses on the unit had an area they preferred. No aspect of my work was ever boring."
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Lucy Letby is wearing a black suit. She has mid-brown shoulder length hair.
Two female prison officers are sitting alongside her. She's holding her hands underneath the desk of the witness box.
In court there are six barristers (three prosecution, three defence) and other legal staff.
The judge, His Honour Judge Goss, is wearing red and ermine robes.
Lucy Letby’s parents are also in court, and are sitting just behind her in the courtroom.
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Myers now asks Letby how much she valued being a nurse.
Letby responds: "Massively. It was everything and I'd always strive to be the best nurse I could.... I was also a mentor for student nurses at the university".
Letby tells the court that she mentored five or six student nurses during her time at the neonatal unit.
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Myers, setting out how he'll proceed, tells the jury he'll go through all the general background to Lucy Letby's case, and will then go through all the 17 babies on the indictment with her.
He asks her how she feels as she is being asked about the arrests and the note (see our previous posts), to which she responds: "It's uncomfortable for me. I'm a very private person."
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Myers is continuing to question Letby about the note, asking about the line "I am evil, I did this".
"Why did you write that?" he asks.
Letby says: "I felt at the time that if I'd done something wrong I must be such an evil, awful person... I'd somehow been incompetent and had done something wrong which had affected those babies."
Myers then asks why she wrote "I did this".
Letby replies: "I felt I must be responsible in some way. I think looking back on it now, I was really struggling, and this was a way of me expressing what I wasn't able to say to anyone else."
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Myers asks why the note says "slander, discrimination".
Letby says: "That's what the hospital trust was saying about me. The allegation."
Myers asks: "What kind of mental state were you in when you wrote this note?"
Letby says she was "not good at all" and that "throughout that time my mental health was poor".
Myers asks: "How long were you feeling like this?"
Letby responds: "Two years."
Myers says: "It says 'I killed them on purpose because I'm not good enough'... does that mean you did something intentionally to kill them?"
Letby says: "No, it meant that I didn't think I'd been good enough... and had somehow failed in my duties."
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Letby's now being asked about notes that were presented as evidence during the trial.
Myers says: "We've all seen a number of notes that you've written. In general are you the sort of person who writes things down?"
Yes, Letby responds, saying she's "the sort of person who writes everything down... and I have difficulties throwing things away".
The court is shown a green note which has been shown before, with Letby's writing on it.
Image source, CPS handoutThis is the note we're looking at in court
"Why have you written 'not good enough'?" Myers asks Letby, to which she responds: "Because that's how people had made me feel... I thought I'd been incompetent or done something wrong that had hurt children."
She adds: "It was just me processing my thoughts. It wasn't supposed to be read by anyone."
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Letby says that at her parents home there was loud banging on the door again, and it was the police for a second time.
She says "it was the scariest thing I've ever been through, and it's traumatised me".
She says she is now very sensitive to any noise, any unexpected change. She gets startled. She says she has been diagnosed with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) in direct relation to the arrests.
When Letby was arrested for the third time she was taken into custody.
She says she makes a three hour round trip to court each day.
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Myers asks Lucy Letby about the first time she was arrested.
She says: "There was a loud knocking at the door at six o'clock in the morning. My father was staying with me at that point. He was staying there too."
She is crying and wiping her eyes with tissues.
Letby says she was told she was being arrested on suspicion of the murder and attempted murder of multiple babies, and was taken to the police station in her pyjamas.
When she was released she wasn't allowed to return to Chester. She went to live with her parents in Hereford.
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Asked how hard it is to cope "with what you're being accused of", Letby says "everything has changed".
"Everything about me, my hopes for the future, has changed... I've been remanded in prison since November 2020. I've been in four different prisons."
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Lucy Letby is crying in the witness box.
She says "my job was my life" and "my whole world was stopped".
She is still crying.
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Lucy Letby is speaking calmly and clearly.
Her parents are sitting just behind her in the public gallery, along with two friends.
Some of the parents of the babies who died or were harmed at the Countess of Chester neonatal unit are also in court.
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Myers is asking Letby how she felt when she learnt what she was being accused of.
"It was sickening, I just couldn't believe it. It was devastating," she says, adding: "I don't think you can be accused of anything worse than that. I just changed as a person. My mental health deteriorated. I felt very isolated."
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
When asked how many babies she had cared for during the period in question, she says: "Probably hundreds."
Myers, Letby's defence barrister, goes on to ask her: "And did you care for them?", to which she replies "yes".
She is then asked if she ever wanted to hurt any baby.
"No that’s completely against what being a nurse is, I only wanted to help and to care for them," she says.
She is then asked how she felt when she was taken off duty.
"I was distraught... It was life changing. I was put into a non-clinical role which I didn't enjoy... from a self confidence point of view it made me question everything about myself."