Nurse accused of killing babies said newborn deaths were ‘all a bit much’

The nurse at one point told a colleague the deaths were ‘sad’ (Picture SWNS/Cavendish Press)

Lucy Letby told a colleague it was ‘all a bit too much’ after allegedly killing two newborns in a week, a court heard.

The nurse, 32, is accused of killing a premature baby — known as Child C — after killing Child A and allegedlly attempting to murder his twin sister, Child B, in June 2015.

Manchester Crown Court heard today that Child C, who weighed only 800g, collapsed at around 6am on June 14 while Letby worked the night shift.

The jury was shown messages where Ms Letby described the child’s death shortly after as ‘heartbreaking’.

In a message to colleague Jennifer Jones-Key, she said: ‘Sorry if I was off, just wasn’t a great start to the shift but sadly it got worse.’

‘I was struggling to accept what happened to [Child A]. Now we’ve lost [Child C] overnight and it’s all a bit much,’ she added.

The nurse had worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital for nearly a decade (Picture: PA Archive/PA Images)

Ms Letby described the death as ‘so sad and cruel’ and told Ms Jones-Key: ‘I just keep seeing them both.

‘No one should have to see and do the things we do. It’s heartbreaking.’

She added: ‘It’s not about me or anyone else, it’s those poor parents who have to walk away without their baby.

‘It’s so unbelievably sad.’

Ms Letby also messaged her mother, Susan, saying: ‘We lost a little one overnight — very unexpected and sad.’

She said ‘new girl’ Sophie Ellis had been looking after the baby, who was ‘devastated’.

Court artist sketch of Lucy Letby appearing in the dock at Manchester Crown Court (Picture: PA)

Ms Letby’s mother replied: ‘We are so proud of you, love you.’

Messaging Ms Ellis, Ms Letby said: ‘We are a good team and we’ll get through it. You did so, so well.’

Ms Letby denies killing seven infants and attempting to murder 10 others at Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England.

Five boys and two girls died, while another five girls and five girls ‘seriously collapsed’ before being saved by healthcare workers, the court previously heard.

Ms Letby worked at the hospital’s neonatal unit from 2011 up until 2018.

Lucy Letby has denied the wave of killings that have haunted the Chester community (Picture: pixel8000)

Hospital administrators raised the alarm in late 2016 following 15 deaths and 17 life-threatening incidents involving babies between June 2015 and June 2016.

A subsequent report detailed how, beginning in June 2015, pediatric doctors had become ‘concerned about a higher-than-usual number of infant deaths’.

Several of them, investigators said, were ‘unexplained’ and ‘unexpected’.

Ms Letby was arrested twice, in 2018 and 2019.

The trial continues.

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