Murder accused told parent 'trust me I'm a nurse' as she killed her child, court told

• ITV Granada Reports correspondent Elaine Willcox has the latest from Manchester Crown Court.

A nurse accused of murdering babies in a neonatal ward told one parent "trust me, I'm a nurse" in an attempt to 'fob her off' as she was murdering her baby, a court has heard.

Lucy Letby is alleged to have murdered five boys and two girls as well as attempting to murder another five boys and five girls.

The 32-year-old is claimed to have gone on a year-long killing spree while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Letby, of Arran Avenue, Hereford, denies 22 counts of murder and attempted murder between June 2015 and June 2016.

In one instance, Manchester Crown Court was told Letby was interrupted while "attacking" one of her victims by his mother.

Child E, a twin boy, was murdered by an injection of air into the bloodstream, prosecutor Nick Johnson KC said.

He said on the evening of 3 August 2015, Child E's mother visited her son in the neonatal unit.

Mr Johnson said: "We say that she interrupted Lucy Letby who was attacking (Child E), although she did not realise it at the time."

When the mother arrived her son was "distressed" and bleeding from the mouth, the court heard.

The mother recalled Letby tried to reassure her, he said, and told her a registrar would review the youngster's condition and she should leave the unit.

"'Trust me, I'm a nurse'. That's what she told (the mother)," said Mr Johnson.

"We suggest she was fobbed off by Lucy Letby."

Child E went on to suffer significant blood loss, Mr Johnson added, with a treating registrar saying he had never encountered such a large bleed in a small baby.

Following Child E's death in the early hours of 4 August, the Crown said Letby made "fraudulent" nursing notes which were "false, misleading and designed to cover her tracks".

Letby went on to show a "very unusual interest" in Child E's family, said Mr Johnson, with social media searches on them two days after the youngster's death and again on numerous occasions in the following months, including "even on Christmas Day".

The day after allegedly murdering child E, Letby allegedly used insulin for the first time to poison a baby, the court heard, by trying to murder child E’s twin brother, child F.

Child F was prescribed a TPN (total parenteral nutrition) bag of fluids and later suffered an unexpected drop in his blood sugar levels and surge in heart rate.

Checks on his insulin levels were carried out which showed, "conclusive evidence" someone had given child F insulin to poison him.

Mr Johnson said no other baby on the neonatal unit was prescribed insulin so child F could not have received the drug intended for some other child by negligence.

The prosecution allege Letby had injected insulin into the TPN bag before it was hung up to give to the child.

He added: “You know who was in the room and you know from the records, who hung the bag.

"It can’t have been an accident."

He told the jury there was only one, "credible candidate" for the poisoner.

"The same person," he said, "Who was present at all the unexplained collapses and deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital on the neonatal unit."

Earlier jurors were told the deaths of five girls and two boys, and the sudden deterioration of another 10 babies, in the short space of time were referred to police as medics "could not account" for them.

Officers were called in and conducted a "pain-staking review", arresting Letby in 2018, before charging her in 2020.

She denies all the charges against her.

The trial continues.