13 June 2024 , 13:44
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The heartbroken mother of a tiny newborn alleged to have been attacked by Lucy Letby has told a court the moment she made the decision to switch off her daughter’s life support.
Manchester Crown Court heard the youngster, known as Child K, was born “extremely premature” at 2.12am on February 17 2016 and weighed just 1lb 8oz (692g). She was moved to the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neo-natal unit’s intensive care room, nursery one, before she was stable enough to be transferred to a more specialist hospital.
Within two hours of her birth Letby was said to have been “caught virtually red-handed” by a senior consultant paediatrician when he saw standing over the cot “doing nothing” as Child K’s blood oxygen levels dipped. The jury has been told Child K was eventually transported to Wirral’s Arrowe Park Hospital later the same day and died three days later. Letby, 34, is accused of attempting to murder the infant by displacing her breathing tube when she was being treated at the unit, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Letby being interviewed by Cheshire Constabulary (PA)In a witness statement read to the court today, Child K’s mother said she was lying awake in the family accommodation area at Arrowe Park in the early hours of February 20 when she said had the “strangest feeling which I cannot begin to describe”. She said: “As we walked into the room I could see the monitors and sats (oxygen saturation) readings were low. I knew straight away things weren’t great.
“The doctor confirmed the worst. I asked if it was just a waiting game now or if she was going to get better. We had a long conversation and she said what happens next was entirely our decision.
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“I remember saying to the doctor she had been poked and prodded from the moment she was born. Her tiny little delicate body had swollen up so much we didn’t want her to be suffering any more.
“We didn’t want to be informed we’d lost our little girl by alarms on the machines going off. We didn’t want to prolong things any more. We made the decision together to switch off the machines and let her go. It was by far the hardest decision of my life.
“One of the staff showed us to a family room where it was peaceful and quiet. Our daughter was wrapped in a blanket and was wearing a little hat. Our daughter was in my husband’s arms when she took her last breath and silently passed away.”
Child K’s mother wiped away tears as she sat in court with her husband, while Letby followed proceedings from the dock flanked by three security guards.
Letby was convicted at a trial last year of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six other infants at the Countess of Chester between June 2015 and June 2016.
Letby, of Hereford, denies one count of attempted murder. A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of the surviving and dead children in the case.
The trial continues.