Prosecutor Nick Johnson told jurors that the Countess of Chester Hospital, Where Letby worksA significant increase in deaths and “catastrophic collapses” in its neonatal unit in 2015 and 2016; According to the Associated Press.
“The condition of the babies, who were never stable, suddenly worsened. “Sometimes the condition of babies who were sick, but later recovered, suddenly worsened for no reason.”
This led staff and investigators to suspect “a poisoner was at work.” Letby is accused of multiple attempts to kill a child in some cases.
Details of his trial, which could last months, made front pages in British newspapers on Tuesday morning.
The premature baby, who was killed a day after birth in June 2015, is believed to be Letby’s first victim, Johnson said in court Monday. Doctors noted this child AJohnson said he had a “strange discoloration” on his skin, which was identified in court for privacy reasons. he said. An autopsy could not determine his cause of death.
An expert in the case said the most likely cause was “injection into the bloodstream by someone who knew it could cause significant harm,” the prosecutor said.
Child A’s twin sister, Child B, was also suffering from dangerously low oxygen levels about 28 hours after her brother died. Staff resuscitated him and he survived, Johnson told the courtroom Back-to-back cases show “these were no accidents”, The Times of London informed.
Other incidents were initially attributed to natural causes before hospital staff became alarmed, according to Johnson. In 2017, they called the police, who investigated the evidence and found that the two children had been poisoned with insulin by someone in the neonatal unit.
The children, identified as Child F and Child L, survived after doctors treated them for a sudden and dangerous drop in blood sugar levels, Johnson said.
Letby was on duty when the newborns were allegedly poisoned and was there every time “things went bad for these 17 kids,” Johnson said. The prosecution said the spike in deaths or serious deterioration of babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital coincided with Letby’s shift schedule: The incidents increased while she was working and when she was moved to day shifts, Johnson said.
Johnson claimed that when Letby failed to kill a child, he tried again – and in one case, he tried three times.
it was letbi He was detained for questioning three times Following an investigation by Chester Police, he was formally charged in November 2020.
Susan Gilby, chief executive of the County of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the facility, told The Washington Post in an email on Tuesday: “We fully support and respect the legal proceedings once the trial begins and will therefore not make any further comment at this stage. Our thoughts continue to be with all the families involved.”
Family members of the alleged victims were in court on Monday, reporters there said.
