LUCY Letby was "a poisoner at work", a jury has been told, as the Countess of Chester Hospital nurse's trial heard opening evidence from the prosecution.

Letby is accused of the murder of seven babies at the hospital's neonatal unit between June 2015 and June 2016. She has pleaded not guilty to all of those charges.

The 32-year-old is also accused of the attempted murder of 10 babies, some on multiple occasions. Letby has denied all 15 attempted murder charges.

Prosecuting at Manchester Crown Court on Monday, October 10, Nicholas Johnson KC told the jury that, prior to January 2015, the mortality rate at the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal unit was comparable with other similar hospital units across the UK.

The neonatal unit cares for babies that are sick and/or vulnerable, but concerns were raised when the mortality rate had a "significant rise" over the following 18 months, along with a rise in the number of "serious catastrophic collapses".

Babies "who had not been unstable at all" or "on the mend", "suddenly deteriorated", "for no reason at all", Mr Johnson told the court.
Hospital consultants noted there was "one common denominator" - the presence of neonatal nurse Lucy Letby.

"A poisoner was at work," Mr Johnson told the court.

Letby had been working night shifts at the hospital, when fewer staff would typically be working and when parents would not usually be visiting the unit.

The prosecution said many of the unexplained deaths and non-fatal collapses happened during the night-time, and when Letby was later moved to a day-shift pattern, the pattern of unexplained deaths and non-fatal collapses shifted to the day-time.

Police were then called in, and commissioned a "painstaking review" by "experienced doctors with no connection to the Countess of Chester Hospital".

The review concluded that two children were "poisoned" with insulin.

The prosecution say the "only reasonable conclusion" is the babies were poisoned "deliberately - these were no accidents".

The prosecution said if the jury could conclude Letby was reponsible for the insulin poisoning, other fatal and non-fatal collapses in new-born children at the neonatal unit could have been due to "sabotaging".

Mr Johnson added these deaths and non-fatal collapses were deliberate, and Letby was the "constant malevolent presence" when things took a turn for the worse in these 17 children.

He added: "Some of the babies who did not die collapsed dramatically but then – equally dramatically – recovered.

“Their collapse and recovery defied the normal experience of treating doctors.”

Shortly before the case adjourned for a lunch break on Monday, Mr Johnson said there were "a very restrictive number of people" who could have entered the neonatal unit, due to the security arrangements in place at the hospital.

The trial will resume this afternoon (Monday) with the prosecution to continue its opening.