Letby: I did not enjoy seeing babies in distress
Warning: This page may contain descriptions of newborn and infant deaths which some readers may find distressing. Find support from the BBC Action Line.
Warning: This page may contain descriptions of newborn and infant deaths which some readers may find distressing. Find support from the BBC Action Line.
Live Reporting
Edited by Marita Moloney
All times stated are UK
Do you remember baby D, prosecutor asks
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Prosecutor Nick Johnson now asks Letby: "Do you still not remember baby D?"
She replies: "I didn’t recall her at the time of my police interview, no."
Johnson responds: "Do you remember her now?"
Letby says: "Yes."
I can't comment on what other nurses saw, says Letby
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Nick Johnson KC now begins asking Lucy Letby about a rash which other nurses reported seeing on baby D.
Letby says: "I can't comment on what they did or didn't see."
Johnson asks: "Do you dispute it?"
Letby replies: "It’s the term 'dispute' I am a little unsure of. I can't comment on what anyone else says they saw."
Johnson then challenges her: "Well, you were there weren’t you?"
She replies: "I wasn’t there for the whole event, no."
Letby asked next about baby D
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Nick Johnson KC now turns to asking Lucy Letby about the next baby, baby D, a girl, who the nurse is charged with murdering in June 2015.
When she gave evidence earlier in the trial, the mother of baby D told the court that Letby had been there when her daughter was being resuscitated, and was holding a phone to the ear of a doctor who was trying to save the baby.
Today, Letby says she has no memory of that.
Johnson asks if she disputes that it happened. She says she has no memory of it.
Nurse denies enjoying baby's distress
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Lucy Letby continues to be cross-examined about baby C.
Nick Johnson KC asks: "What useful function were you performing? What were you contributing to the dreadful situation baby C's family were going through?"
Letby responds: "I can't recall whether I assisted with the mementoes (of the baby) which is a two-person job."
The prosecutor continues: "Do you dispute you were making a useful contribution?"
Letby says: "I would have to check the (medical) charts to see if I co-signed them at the time."
Johnson questions: "The charts wouldn’t be in the family room...he wasn’t in a cot, he was in the arms of his mother, dying, wasn’t he Lucy Letby?"
To which she replies: "Yes."
Johnson: "You were enjoying what was going on weren't you Lucy?" She responds: "No."
I have seen babies suddenly collapse before, says Letby
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Nick Johnson KC says baby C had massive gastric dilation and ballooning of the stomach when he collapsed.
He asks: "For some reason a heart rate was restored and he clung to life for a further five hours plus. Have you ever seen that sort of decline before?"
Lucy Letby replies: "I have seen babies suddenly collapse before."
Johnson says: "You enjoyed the aftermath of this didn’t you?"
Letby says: "No."
The prosecutor then asks: "Why were you so keen to involve yourself with baby C’s family as they cradled their dying son?"
Lucy Letby says: "I don’t recall being there for a lot of the time like they’ve said."
Letby asked about collapse of baby C
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC has begun his cross-examination by carrying on his questions relating to baby C, a boy, who Lucy Letby is accused of murdering.
Letby says she was not in the room when baby C collapsed, in June 2015.
Johnson asks her: "Do you dispute you were in the room at the time of the collapse?"
The nurse responds: "Yes, because I have no memory of that."
Johnson then questions: "Do you remember being born?"
Letby says: "No."
Johnson: "Do you dispute being born?"
Letby: "No."
Prosecution begins questioning Letby about babies
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
A reminder, especially for new readers, that Lucy Letby is charged with murdering seven babies and attempting to murder a further 10, at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.
She denies all 22 charges on the indictment. Because there are particular court orders in place, we are prevented from identifying any of the babies or their parents.
Some medics are also anonymised. We are referring to the babies by alphabetical cypher, from A to Q.
Nick Johnson KC is questioning Lucy Letby about them in order.
Hearing gets under way
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
The jury of eight women and four men have now made their way into courtroom number seven.
They each sit at their own desk, with individual computer screens to allow them to follow the evidence, a lot of which is shown digitally. They also have paper files.
The hearing is now getting under way, with Nick Johnson KC, leading the prosecution, up on his feet.
Judge enters the courtroom
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
The judge, Mr Justice Goss, has entered the room. He's wearing red robes, with a black sash and ermine sleeves.
The jurors are not yet in the courtroom. The lawyers are discussing some legal matters which can't be reported publicly, in the absence of the jury.
Court in session again
Judith Moritz
Inside the courtroom
I'm back in the courtroom at the Lucy Letby trial and the court is reassembling.
Letby is wearing a navy blue suit, and is sitting at the table of the witness box.
The court is silent as we wait for the judge Mr Justice Goss to enter. All the barristers are in position, and families of the babies who feature in the trial are here too.
Letby's parents are across the aisle from them, sitting behind their daughter.
What happened in court yesterday
Gem O'Reilly
Live reporter
Yesterday was Lucy Letby's sixth day in the witness box. Here's what we learned:
Welcome back
Marita Moloney
Live reporter
Good morning and thanks for joining us as we resume our coverage of the trial of Lucy Letby at Manchester Crown Court.
The nurse is accused of murdering seven babies and the attempted murders of 10 others between 2015 and 2016. She denies all charges.
The 33-year-old will be cross-examined by the prosecution for a third day today.
Our correspondent Judith Moritz is in court and will be bringing you the latest from the trial, so stay with us.
Thanks for joining us
We're ending our coverage here now, as court as finished for the day.
We know this is an extremely distressing case. So a reminder that if you, or someone you know, needs help after reading about it, the details of organisations offering assistance can be found on the BBC Action Line website.
Recap: Lucy Letby's sixth day in the witness box
Dan O'Donoghue
At Manchester Crown Court
On her sixth day in the witness box, Lucy Letby accused hospital bosses of a conspiracy against her to cover up shortcomings on the neo-natal ward where she is accused of killing babies.
The 33-year-old is alleged to have murdered seven babies and attempted to murder 10 others between June 2015 and June 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
The nurse accused a "gang of four" doctors of apportioning blame onto her to cover up failings at the hospital.
Letby also told the court that the discovery of more than 250 handover sheets in her home, many related to dead infants, was insignificant.
Johnson put it to her that she was keeping the notes for her "little collection", Letby said "no". Letby added: "I keep a lot of paper, I have a difficulty throwing anything anyway".
Later in the day, when Johnson turned to talk about some of the babies in the case, she became tearful as he asked if she had enjoyed being in the family room, where parents went to deal with their grief.
The jury also heard Lucy Letby being asked about text messages she sent while on shift - the nurse said this was common practice among staff.
That concludes proceedings for today
Dan O'Donoghue
At Manchester Crown Court
Nick Johnson KC will resume his cross-examination tomorrow morning.
I was disappointed not to be with baby C, Letby says
Dan O'Donoghue
At Manchester Crown Court
Johnson is now quoting from Letby's police interviews. In one she was asked about a message exchange with a colleague while on shift on 13 June.
The detective in that interview said: “The text messages suggest you were frustrated at not working in nursery one, do you agree?”
The defendant said: “Yes, I think it would have helped me if I could have been in nursery one.”
Johnson asks if she was frustrated. Letby says she was disappointed.
She's asked if she has accepted the evidence of nurse Ellis, that she saw Letby at baby C's cotside.
"I haven't accepted it, I've said I don't recall," she said.
Nurse left with baby C did not have experience, Letby says
Dan O'Donoghue
At Manchester Crown Court
Nick Johnson KC continues his cross-examination.
"You wanted to be in nursery one, your wish was being frustrated by management and in your view the person who had what you wanted, to look after the non-vented baby in nursery one, wasn’t sufficiently qualified for the job."
Letby said the nurse designated to care for baby C had recently qualified and "did not have the experience or skills" to care for a premature boy like him.
Jurors have heard that the nurse caring for baby C, Sophie Ellis, went briefly to the nurses' station during her shift and whilst there she heard baby C's monitor sound an alarm.
When she re-entered nursery one, she said nurse Letby was already standing next to the cot and told her: "He's just dropped his heart rate and saturations."
Johnson put it to Letby that when Ellis went to the nurses' station, "that was the opportunity you took to sabotage (baby C) wasn't it?"
"No," she responded.
Letby tells court she wanted to be in baby C's room
Dan O'Donoghue
At Manchester Crown Court
The court is once again shown a text message nurse Letby sent to a nursing colleague during her shift on the 13 June.
In that message, Letby said: "I just feel I need to be in 1 to get the image out of my head....being 3 is eating me up, all I can see is him in 1."
Letby has previously explained that when working at Liverpool Women’s Hospital she had “lost a baby one day and a few hours later was given another dying baby just by the same cot space”.
Letby tells the court that being placed in nursery three at that time, instead of one, had made her feel upset.
"I didn't feel my feelings were being considered," she said.
Letby 'migrated' back to baby C's room, prosecutor says
Dan O'Donoghue
At Manchester Crown Court
Johnson is taking the court back over nursing notes for baby C. The note, made by one of Letby's colleagues, is a summary of the baby boy's health on 13 June 2015.
Johnson confirms with Letby that she came on shift at 19:30pm that night.
She was designated two babies, initialled JE and PE, to care for that evening - these children are not part of the case.
Mr Johnson puts it to Ms Letby that this was "another shift on which (she) migrated either from nursery three or four and back into nursery one."
Letby says: "Yes, in response to (baby C's) care needs."
The prosecutor suggests that Letby was unhappy at being designated children in nursery three to care for.
Letby accepts this. She says: "Yes I had expressed I would have preferred to be in nursery one."
Letby cries as she is asked if she enjoyed what happened
Dan O'Donoghue
At Manchester Crown Court
Nick Johnson KC is quoting Lucy Letby's police interviews in relation to baby C.
She told officers that she "did nothing to injure him" and that she "did not recall" being in nursery one when the boy collapsed.
Johnson said: "I'm going to suggest that your assertion in your defence statement, that your recollection of events (in relation to baby C's collapse) is vague, is not true."
Letby responds: "I don't agree with that."
Johnson says: "I'm going to suggest that you enjoyed what happened and that is why you were in and out of the family room."
Nurse Letby, through tears, said "No."