Newborn nurse Lucy Letby murdered two babies from a group of triplets immediately after returning from a summer holiday in Ibiza, the jury heard at their trial today.
Baby O died during her first shift of duty at the Countess of Chester Hospital, while his brother Baby P collapsed and died the day after.
A transport team was too late to take baby P to Liverpool Women’s Hospital. But as they prepared to leave, the mother asked the counselor in charge to take her surviving child instead.
Before returning to work in June 2016, Letby, now 33, exchanged messages with colleagues about her flight home and the tapas she was already missing.
The social media chat includes a series of messages between her and a consulting registrar, who a fellow caregiver previously suggested was “flirting” with her.
Newborn nurse Lucy Letby, 33, (pictured) murdered two babies from a set of triplets just after she returned from a summer holiday in Ibiza
In a conversation she simply writes: “Boo”.
He replies with a winking emoji.
In other messages, the pediatrician and nurse joke about calling in sick so they can go home.
When he offers to bring her something to eat, she replies: “Tapas?”. A few minutes later, she adds, “It’s ok, thanks, I’ve got a few things with me.”
When Letby misplaces a note on the device, she says to him: “Definitely still had to be in Ibiza”.
Later, the two colleagues work side by side while a team of medics work desperately to save first Baby O and later his brother.
Some of the medical records they were writing at the time of these breakdowns were shown to the jury as prosecutors began reviewing the evidence relating to the babies’ deaths.
Letby, who is originally from Hereford, denies murdering seven babies between June 2015 and June 2016 and attempted to kill another ten. She denies all allegations.
Letby, originally from Hereford, denies murdering seven babies and attempting to kill another ten between June 2015 and June 2016 (pictured: Child I’s cot)
The mother told jurors at Manchester Crown Court their identical triplets were born three minutes apart on June 21. Back then, Letby was still enjoying tapas and a ride on a rubber dinghy while on holiday in Ibiza.
At first, medics told her that there was likely to be insufficient space for cots in the Countess, so she and her babies would likely be relocated to Birmingham, Manchester or Bristol.
But in the end all three stayed in Chester until the youngest triplet eventually moved to LWH.
In a statement read in court, the mother said she was constantly reassured that all three infants were doing well.
But on June 23, her partner went to the neonatal unit. He returned about 15 minutes later, accompanied by the registrar involved in the text conversations with Letby.
‘(The registrar) came in and said (Baby) O’s stomach was swollen and he needed a little help breathing. He seemed very calm. He said it was normal and there was nothing to worry about.
Before returning to work in June 2016, Letby, now 33, exchanged messages with colleagues about her flight home and the tapas she was already missing
But walking down to the unit a few minutes later, she was greeted by “a chaotic scene”. Baby O was in intensive care and many medical staff were “running around”.
The same registrar was there, along with a pediatrician and Letby. ‘O’s bed was flat now and the team was around him. I was sitting outside in my wheelchair. Lucy was running around sorting things for the doctors. She went into the room labeled “Sterile.”
