Lucy Letby: Baby stopped breathing without warning, trial told

Lucy Letby is accused of murdering seven babies and trying to kill 10 others

The mother of a baby allegedly murdered by nurse Lucy Letby was told her son stopped breathing "without warning", a court has heard.

The baby was born prematurely, weighing 800g (1.7lb), at the Countess of Chester Hospital 10 June 2015 and was taken to the neonatal unit.

Ms Letby, 32, denies killing the child and six others. She also denies attempting to murder 10 more babies.

It is alleged Ms Letby killed the child by injecting air into his stomach.

In a statement, his mother said after his birth the staff on the unit remained positive about his progress, as did she and her husband.

She said: "We weren't being unrealistic but we could see he was doing all that was expected of him."

The nurse worked on the neonatal ward at Countess of Chester Hospital

However, on 13 June the mother, who was staying on a post-natal ward following the birth, was awoken by a nurse at 23:20 BST and told to see her son "urgently".

It was explained his heartrate had suddenly dropped and he had stopped breathing "without warning".

The court heard the child's change in condition was "very sudden and unexpected".

She said: "Initially I didn't really take in what was happening and I didn't take in the severity until I was asked by a neonatal nurse whether I wanted someone to call a priest.

"I remember feeling quite shocked and I asked her if she thought he was going to die, to which she responded, 'Yes, I think so'."

The woman said her husband arrived, a priest was called and their baby was baptised.

She said: "It was a way in which we were able to validate that he had been here. We wouldn't have had anything else."

The mother was initially told her son - referred to as Child C - had died after his baptism, but said when she held him he was still breathing.

The court heard she and her husband, who also called their parents to the hospital, stayed with their son until he died on the morning of 14 June.

Lucy Letby denies 22 charges

The court also heard a statement from her husband who said Ms Letby, who he now recognised from pictures in newspapers, was one of two nurses who took the couple and their son to a family room to be together before he died.

He said while in the room one of the nurses, who he thought could have been Ms Letby, brought a ventilator basket in and said: "You've said your goodbyes, do you want me to put him in here?"

The comment shocked them as their son was not dead.

He added: "We didn't want to leave him while he was still alive."

In an opening speech, Ben Myers KC, defending, said Child C was vulnerable, especially to infection, and should have been at a specialist children's hospital.

Ms Letby, originally from Hereford, denies the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of 10 others between June 2015 and June 2016.

The trial continues.