Top doctor’s claim ‘killer’ nurse Lucy Letby was ‘doing nothing’ as a baby girl’s oxygen levels plummeted were ‘not worthy of belief’, court hears
Lucy Letby‘s defence barrister dismissed a senior doctor’s claim he saw her ‘doing nothing’ while a baby girl’s oxygen levels dipped – as closing arguments were heard in the nurse’s murder trial.
Letby, 33, allegedly tried to murder the infant by dislodging her breathing tube while she was being treated at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit in February 2016.
The prosecution say she was interrupted by consultant Dr Ravi Jayaram who said he walked in to find Letby standing by Child K’s incubator and with no alarm sounding.
Continuing his defence closing speech at Manchester Crown Court today, Ben Myers KC: ‘The accusation is that Lucy Letby interfered with the tube and interfered with the alarm knowing it would not go off.
‘We say the fact that blame has been directed at Ms Letby by Dr Jayaram, the consultant responsible for (Child K) on that unit, is no mere coincidence – directed long after the time of these events.
Letby’s (pictured) barrister told jurors the nurse was an ‘excellent’ band five nurse
Consultant Dr Ravi Jayaram (pictured) told Manchester Crown Court that he walked in to find Letby standing by Child K’s incubator as the baby’s oxygen level plummeted and with no alarm sounding
‘She doesn’t accept that is anything she ever did.
‘She doesn’t accept she has done anything to harm these children.
‘The allegation relies on the credibility and reliability of Dr Jayaram, as it always has done.
‘We say the most striking feature of this allegation is he did nothing despite what he claimed to the police nearly a year later.
‘That is not worthy of belief, it’s incredible.’
Manchester Crown Court has heard that by this stage Dr Jayaram and head consultant Dr Stephen Brearey had suspicions about Letby’s presence at a number of collapses.
Mr Myers said: ‘If you strip this back to what’s being alleged he would call the police.
‘Dr Jayaram said he didn’t have the training. Well, I don’t know what they teach you at consultant school, but how so many of them were struck silent during the course of these events is amazing.’
The barrister also questioned why Dr Jayaram did not act as a ‘whistle-blower in the NHS’.
Mr Myers said: ‘Let people know. You hardly need a policy for that.
‘How about asking Lucy Letby what happened at the very least?
‘Dr Jayaram and others have a duty to look after children in the care and he did nothing.’
Court artist sketch of Letby (middle) who has been accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder ten others in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June 2016
Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC said a ‘constellation of coincidences’ should convince the jury that Letby if guilty of murdering one baby by injecting air into his nasogastric tube
The barrister told the jury of eight women and four men that Dr Jayaram initially told police that Child K was sedated at the time and that was the ‘primary basis’ for blaming Letby.
He said it later emerged the sedation took place after the alleged event.
Mr Myers said: ‘Not for the first time we say the prosecution case simply changes shape to keep the allegation in place. They say Lucy Letby tried to cover her tracks by making it look like she (Child K) had problem by interfering with tubes twice more on the same night shift.
‘The accusation is unsupportable and makes no sense.
‘If Ms Letby had been caught in the compromising position as alleged she is hardly going to risk doing the same again two more times with Ravi Jayaram and others about.’
Mr Myers said Child K was a ‘very poorly baby’ due to her extreme prematurity and should have instead been treated at a specialist tertiary care unit.
He said she had received ‘suboptimal care’ during her stay at the Countess of Chester.
Letby, from Hereford, denies the murders of seven babies and the attempted murder of 10 others between June 2015 and June 2016.
The trial continues tomorrow.
