Letby ‘shoved tube down baby’s throat’

A NURSE attacked a twin baby boy by shoving a plastic tube or wire down his throat before injecting him with air to kill him, a court heard yesterday.

Lucy Letby, 32, of Hereford, used a ‘stiff ’ piece of medical equipment such as a suction tube or introducer – a plastic-covered wire used to help put a breathing tube into patients – to injure the premature newborn, a prosecution expert said.

Dr Dewi Evans, a retired consultant paediatrician, told Manchester Crown Court that the child, referred to as Baby E, suffered ‘ extraordinary’ bleeding, losing a quarter of his blood. But the trauma to his upper gastro- intestinal tract – which runs between the mouth and stomach – was secondary to an injection of air into his blood stream which killed him, he said.

Letby is accused of murdering the infant, and six other babies, at the Countess of Chester Hospital, in Cheshire, where she worked between June 2015 and June 2016. She attempted to kill ten others over the same period, it is claimed.

Asked by Nicholas Johnson KC, prosecuting, to explain the bleeding, Dr Evans said: ‘ He suffered trauma from somewhere, some form of injury... Something called an introducer, a thin wire surrounded by plastic which can be used to intubate a baby. That would be more than sufficient to cause trauma if used inappropriately.’

Mr Johnson said: ‘In your view is there a potential innocent explanation for this?’ Dr Evans replied: ‘No… He was a stable baby.’

Earlier this week Baby E’s mother told the court that she had visited her twins around 9pm on August 3 and heard ‘horrendous’ screaming from the older boy. He had blood around his mouth and chin.

Letby denies a total of 22 charges. The case continues.