Injection of air killed baby, Letby trial told

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that Experts the twin told boy, the who trial weighed of Lucy just Letby 3lb 12oz, died after being deliberately injected with air.

There was ‘no way’ air could have got into his bloodstream by accident because doctors and nurses are ‘obsessive’ about keeping it out of tubes and lines they use to administer drugs, they said.

The boy’s mother, who was sitting in the public gallery, broke down in tears as the experts confirmed an injection of air killed her son.

The child, Baby A, was the first of seven infants allegedly murdered by Letby, 32, pictured, at the Countess of Chester Hospital, Cheshire. She is also accused of attempting to murder ten more, including Baby A’s twin sister, Baby B, between June 2015 and June 2016.

Dr Sandie Bohin, a specialist neonatologist with 26 years’ experience, said a tiny amount of air would be enough to kill a child as small as Baby A. ‘Papers I have read suggest that 3 to 5ml [of air] per kg of body weight could be fatal in a baby,’ Dr Bohin said. ‘ Baby A was 1.6kg – so not very much air at all [would be enough to kill]. A teaspoon is 5ml.’ Manchester Crown Court was told that Dr Bohin and Dr Dewi Evans, both expert consultant paediatricians, were asked to review the sudden deaths and collapses of babies at the hospital in 2017 after police were called in. They said that, although nine weeks premature, Baby A was stable a day after his birth, on June 7, 2015, and was ‘doing really, really well’. Although his breathing rate was slightly raised, it was not a cause for concern. But, the court heard, around 8.20pm on June 8, soon after Letby went on duty for her night shift, Baby A suddenly stopped breathing and – despite the efforts of doctors and nurses – could not be resuscitated.

The prosecution allege Letby killed him by injecting air into a tube that had been placed in his blood stream to deliver fluids when she set up an infusion of glucose around 8pm.

She is also accused of attacking his twin sister, Baby B, by the same method around 27 hours later. Baby B was resuscitated and survived.

Letby, of Hereford, denies 22 charges relating to 17 victims.

The case continues.