Neonatal unit could not cope with more babies, Lucy Letby murder trial told

A neonatal unit where nurse Lucy Letby allegedly went on a killing spree could not cope with taking on more babies with greater care needs, a court heard.

In his defence closing speech at Manchester Crown Court, Ben Myers KC told the jury of eight women and four men that the “right verdicts” to return against her were not guilty.

Letby, 33, is accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder 10 others at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016.

On Friday, Mr Myers said: “There’s no direct evidence of her doing any of the acts alleged against her.

“And that reason, however unwelcome in some quarters, is that she did not do this. It can’t keep happening like that if she did.

“Between June 2015 and June 2016, the neonatal unit took more babies than it would usually care for and with greater care needs.

“You have heard that repeatedly.

“In that same year there was an increase in the number of deaths and type of collapses you are looking at in this trial.

“What did not change was Miss Letby. She was dedicated. She cared for hundreds of babies. She did not suddenly change.

“What changed was the babies cared for on the unit in terms of their numbers and needs, and we say the inability of this unit to cope.

“But no-one is going to come here and admit that are they?”

The barrister said it was “easy to lose sight of the person at the centre of this”.

He pointed to one of the notes found at her home in Chester following her arrest in July 2018 which contained the words “not good enough”.

Letby claims the notes reflected her concerns that her care had been sub-standard shortly after bosses moved her to clerical duties two years earlier.

Mr Myers said: “That’s an insight into a genuine state of mind. This is clear. Lucy Letby wanted to be good at what she did, if you go back to what she was. Not the caricature of what has been created.

“When this woman is left in your charge, keep that in mind. Not the picture conjured by the prosecution. How they treated her in the weeks of questions, in a way they treated nobody else.”

Letby wiped away tears in the dock, as did her mother watching from the public gallery, as Mr Myers said: “Please keep at the forefront of your mind the person she was at the time these events were happening, not what she has been reduced to.

“She was hard-working, deeply committed, had a happy life. Loved her work and was there much of the time because she loved being a nurse.

“For a system to want to apportion blame when it fails, she became a target on the evidence. Not because of what she was seen to do. Oh no, because she was there.

“We ask for fairness and balance, and a realistic assessment of the evidence in this case.

“We say that the right verdicts are verdicts of not guilty and those are the verdicts we ask you to return.”

The trial was adjourned until Monday when Mr Justice Goss will begin to sum up the evidence in the case.