A nurse in the UK has denied she got “a thrill” from photographing a sympathy card sent to the parents of a baby girl she allegedly murdered.
The infant is one of seven babies that Lucy Letby is said to have murdered at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neo-natal unit.
Letby (33), from Hereford, is said to have killed Child I at the fourth attempt. She also denies attempting to murder 10 other babies.
Her trial at Manchester Crown Court has heard that during a night shift on the unit she took a picture on her phone of a sympathy card she wrote to be passed to colleagues attending the child’s funeral.
Cross-examining her on Thursday, prosecutor Nick Johnson KC said: “You took a picture of a card, addressed to the parents of a child who had died in dreadful circumstances, at the place where she died.”
Letby said: “The place is insignificant. My usual behaviour is to photograph things that I send or receive.”
Mr Johnson asked: “Did it give you a bit of a thrill to photograph it at the place where this poor unfortunate child died?”
Letby replied: “Absolutely not.”
Jurors have been told that following her arrest a total of 257 shift handover sheets – some including the names of babies she allegedly harmed – were found at her then home in Chester and her parents’ address in Hereford.
One sheet found “in pristine condition” at her address in Westbourne Road, Chester, was dated June 1st, 2010, her first day of work as a student at the neonatal unit.
Mr Johnson asked: “Did you have a keepsafe box with roses on it at Westbourne Road?”
“Yes,” said Letby.
Mr Johnson said: “What was in the keepsafe box?”
Letby said: “I can’t recall from memory.”
Mr Johnson said: “One of the things in that box was that handover sheet, wasn’t it?”
Letby said: “I don’t have any recollection where the handover sheets were.”
Mr Johnson said: “How does it differ from all the other handover sheets?”
Letby said: “It doesn’t have any writing on it.”
Mr Johnson said: “And it doesn’t have any folds in it. It’s in pristine condition.”
Letby agreed.
Mr Johnson went on: “Some 99 handover sheets from your home as a student.”
Letby said: “I wouldn’t know.”
Mr Johnson said: “You have not been prepared to tell the truth about these handover sheets, have you?”
Letby said: “The truth is what I have told you.”
The defendant previously told the jury of eight women and four men that the sheets “inadvertently come home with in my uniform pocket”.
Police found 31 handover sheets in a Morrisons bag – her work bag – under her bed.
Mr Johnson asked: “Why put them in the bag at all?”
Letby said: “ I can’t recall. They are just pieces of paper to me.”
Mr Johnson said: “You are not telling the truth, are you?”
Letby said: “I am.”
Mr Johnson said: “Why don’t you want to tell the truth?”
Letby said: “That is the truth. They have no meaning to me at all. I have copious pieces of paper and cards that I have not thrown away my whole life.”
Also discovered in police searches was a blood gas reading of a baby boy, Child M, who she allegedly attempted to murder.
Mr Johnson reminded Letby that a nursing colleague who took the measurement had told the court she would have disposed of the printout in the unit’s confidential waste bin.
The prosecutor asked: “When did you fish it out of the bin?”
Letby said: “I never fished anything out of the confidential bin.”
Mr Johnson said: “How did you get it?”
Letby said: “I can’t recall specifically.”
Mr Johnson said: “It was for your little collection, wasn’t it Lucy Letby?”
“No,” replied the defendant.
Letby, from Hereford, denies all the alleged offences said to have taken place between June 2015 and June 2016.
