Lucy Letby trial: Nurse denies she inflated infant with air as court hears how she 'interrupted' parents bathing dead daughter

A nurse accused of murdering seven babies - and the attempted murder of 10 more - has denied she deliberately inflated one of her victims with air.

Lucy Letby is charged with attempting to harm the infants at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit between June 2015 and June 2016. The 33-year-old defendant, from Hereford, denies all 22 charges against her.

Child I was allegedly attacked by Letby four times before she died in October 2015, her trial at Manchester Crown Court heard.

Shortly before she collapsed for the third time, in her nursing notes, Letby described the baby's breathing as "squeaky", which she said "means you haven't got clear entry and aren't getting full lung expansion".

But by the end of Letby's shift, "everything had been decompressed", the prosecution barrister, Nick Johnson, said.

"You had inflated Child I with air, hadn't you Lucy Letby," he asked.

"No," said Letby.

Letby 'interrupted parents' bathing their dead daughter

Friday was her sixth day of cross-examination and her tenth day on the witness stand. During the afternoon's evidence, Letby was questioned about the cases of Children I, J and K.

None of the infants involved - or their families - can be named for legal reasons.

Following her death, Child I was bathed by her parents as part of the unit's standard bereavement service. Letby is accused of "smiling" as she interrupted Child I's parents.

The mother previously said: "Lucy came back in. She was smiling and kept going on about how she was present at Child I's first bath and how much she loved it."

The ex-nurse said it "wasn't meant with any malice" but wanted to refer to a positive memory. She says it is normal practice to treat the infant as though she was still alive.

Mr Johnson said: "Were you getting a thrill out of what you were watching, the grief and despair you were watching in that room?"

Letby said: "Absolutely not."

Letby took advantage of 'distracted' colleagues

An emergency unfolding in an adjoining nursery room would have allowed Letby the time and space to "sabotage" Child J, the prosecution claimed.

On the night shift of 26 to 27 November 2015, twins were admitted to the nursery, one with a cleft palate, just before 6.30am.

"There would have been lots of distractions with these two emergencies," Mr Johnson said.

"I don't know what you are implying," Letby replied.

"I am implying the medical staff would have had their attention focused on the twins, would you agree?" Mr Johnson said.

"Yes," said Letby.

Text messages show Letby telling her colleague that one of the newborn twins was being intubated. Letby said she wasn't "keeping an eye" on what was going on in the room, but was aware of what was unfolding next door.

Letby stopped replying to her colleague's text messages at 6.49am.

"Because you were in nursery two sabotaging Child J, weren't you?" Mr Johnson said.

"No," said Letby.

For half an hour, there is no record of what Letby was doing on the unit.

The 'falsified notes'

Throughout Friday's evidence, Letby was repeatedly accused of changing the times on her nursing paperwork. The prosecution alleges she did this to put some time between [herself] and "serious events" involving collapsed infants.

In one instance, Letby changed a note that showed she was giving a different infant an infusion at the time Child I fatally collapsed, which happened just before midnight.

A close-up image of a medical note showed the infusion happening at 24.00 (midnight).

But, the prosecution says, the four has been changed from a three, and the actual time this took place was 23.00 (11pm). They accused Letby of changing the notes to give herself an alibi in the lead-up to Child I's collapse.

"No I would not have changed a record, that was obviously written in error," Letby said. She said the note would have been signed off by her colleague.

But the prosecution said she could have changed the time after it was signed.

The trial continues.