Lucy Letby today began giving evidence in her defence and claimed she would ‘never hurt children’ as she denied murdering seven babies and trying to kill ten more, declaring: ‘I only ever did my best to care for them’.
Seven months on from the start of her trial at Manchester Crown Court, the 33-year-old entered the witness box on Tuesday to give evidence – today claiming she had been left with PTSD.
She is alleged to have murdered five boys and two girls, and attempted to murder another five boys and five girls, between June 2015 and June 2016.
Letby, from Hereford, denies all the offences said to have taken place at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital. Wearing black trousers and a black top, she was flanked by two female prison officers.
Several rows behind, her parents, John, 76, and Susan, 62, looked on – as did family members of the alleged victims on the other side of the public gallery.
Lucy Letby was in the witness box for the first time today as her defence began at Manchester Crown Court. During her evidence, she appeared to become tearful
She denies denies the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of ten others between June 2015 and June 2016
Letby told the court about the three times she was arrested by police on suspicion of murder and attempted murder of babies.
The accused described her arrests as ‘traumatising’ and ‘the scariest thing I have ever been through’, and said she had now been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.
She started giving evidence by confirming some personal details with her barrister, Ben Myers – her name and date of birth.
Letby said she grew up in Hereford with her mother and father. Asked when it was she first wanted to be a nurse, she replied: ‘I have always wanted to work with children.’
She told the court she chose A-levels to take ‘which would best support that career’.
Letby said she studied her nursing degree at the University of Chester and was the ‘first person in her family to go to university’.
During her studies she went on numerous work placements, she said, with the majority at the Countess of Chester Hospital, either on the children’s ward or the neo-natal unit.
Letby said she qualified as a Band 5 nurse in September 2011.
Her barrister, Ben Myers KC, said: ‘Over the period of 2015 and 2016 we are looking at the and the babies on this indictment, could you put a figure on the number of babies you cared for in that period?’
Letby said: ‘It would be hundreds.’
Letby was flanked by three guards as she appeared in court to give evidence for the first time. She denies denies the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of ten others between June 2015 and June 2016
A diary, along with a Post-it note which was found inside the diary, recovered from a chest of drawers at the home of Lucy Letby
Mr Myers said: ‘Did you care for them?’
Letby said: ‘Yes.’
Asked if she ever wanted to hurt any of them, she said: ‘No, that’s completely against being what a nurse is.’
Letby said she was ‘devastated’ when she was removed from clinical duties, told by the hospital trust, to check staff were competent to do their jobs.
She added: ‘Because I have always prided myself on being very competent and, potentially, I was not competent, it really affected me and I was taken away from the job I loved.
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‘It was life-changing, in that moment I was taken away from the support system I had on the unit, I was put in a role I did not enjoy and I had to pretend it was voluntary. It made me question everything about myself.’
Letby said she was first informed she was being blamed for the deaths of babies in a letter from the Royal College of Nursing in September 2016.
Ben Myers KC, defending, asked how this made her feel.
Letby replied: ‘It was sickening. I just could not believe it. It was devastating. I don’t think you could be accused of anything worse than that.’
She said after she was accused of being responsible for harming babies she felt very isolated and her mental health deteriorated.
The 33-year-old (pictured with a baby), said she was ‘devastated’ when she was removed from clinical duties
The corridor within the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit, where the alleged incidents are all claimed to have taken place
Letby, originally from Hereford, denies murdering seven babies and attempting to murder a further ten (pictured: April 2016 entries in a diary)
She said she was prescribed anti-depressants by her GP, which she is still taking.
Ben Myers KC, defending, asked the defendant: ‘How bad did the negative feelings get?’
Letby replied: ‘There were times when I did not want to live. I thought of killing myself.’
Mr Myers said: ‘Had you done anything wrong?’
Letby replied: ‘No.’
Mr Myers said: ‘Then why did you think of killing yourself?’
Letby replied: ‘Because of what was being inferred.’
Ben Myers KC, defending Letby, asked how did she feel to have her job as a nurse taken away from her and to be accused of killing babies.
Letby replied: ‘My job was my life. My whole world was stopped.’
Mr Myers asked: ‘If you think back to when you were a young woman, you were 25, 26, before you were being blamed for what happened, are you the same person?’
Letby replied: ‘Everything has completely changed. Everything about me and my life, the hopes I had for the future, everything has gone.’
Mr Myers KC then took his client through some handwritten notes found at her home after her arrest.
Letby said writing her thoughts down was something she had done all her life.
Asked to explain why she had written ‘Not good enough’ at the top of one note, Letby said: ‘That’s the overwhelming feeling I had about myself at that point, because the way people had made me feel.
‘I thought I had been incompetent or done something wrong. “It’s just me processing thoughts”.’
Letby, of Hereford, denies the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of ten others between June 2015 and June 2016. The trial continues.
