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| Lucy Letby looked up babies’ bereaved parents on Facebook, court told | Lucy Letby looked up babies’ bereaved parents on Facebook, court told |
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| Nurse accused of murdering seven babies at Countess of Chester hospital told police she did not recall searches | Nurse accused of murdering seven babies at Countess of Chester hospital told police she did not recall searches |
| A nurse accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill 10 others told police she had no recollection of searching for their parents on Facebook, a court has heard. | A nurse accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill 10 others told police she had no recollection of searching for their parents on Facebook, a court has heard. |
| Lucy Letby, 33, allegedly used social media to look up bereaved families up to two years after their newborns had died, a jury has been told. | Lucy Letby, 33, allegedly used social media to look up bereaved families up to two years after their newborns had died, a jury has been told. |
| Jurors at Manchester crown court were read transcripts on Thursday of police interviews in which Letby was asked about Facebook searches she had carried out. Philip Astbury, prosecuting, said the nurse had been asked whether she had used social media to “research the babies”. She told officers: “I don’t recall.” | |
| Asked twice more whether she had any memory of carrying out the searches, she replied: “Not specifically, no.” | |
| Astbury told jurors that Letby had searched for the mother of one baby four times over the space of three months, including twice in the two days after he died. | Astbury told jurors that Letby had searched for the mother of one baby four times over the space of three months, including twice in the two days after he died. |
| The prosecutor, reading the words of the police officer who interviewed Letby, said: “Can you give any explanation for that?” | The prosecutor, reading the words of the police officer who interviewed Letby, said: “Can you give any explanation for that?” |
| Letby replied: “No.” | Letby replied: “No.” |
| Asked whether she agreed that these searches had been carried out on her Facebook account, the nurse said: “Yeah, if they’re there but I don’t recall why or if I pursued it any further, like asked them to be friends or anything like that.” | Asked whether she agreed that these searches had been carried out on her Facebook account, the nurse said: “Yeah, if they’re there but I don’t recall why or if I pursued it any further, like asked them to be friends or anything like that.” |
| The infant, who can only be referred to as Child A, was one day old when he was allegedly murdered. Letby is accused of attempting to murder his twin sister 48 hours later, on 10 June 2015. She denies both charges. | The infant, who can only be referred to as Child A, was one day old when he was allegedly murdered. Letby is accused of attempting to murder his twin sister 48 hours later, on 10 June 2015. She denies both charges. |
| The nurse, originally from Hereford, was asked in the interview why she searched Facebook for the twins’ mother in September that year. She told officers: “To see how maybe the family was doing … because we think about the babies on the unit all the time and we talk about them and what they are doing.” | |
| Letby denies murdering seven babies and attempting to murder another 10 infants between June 2015 and June 2016 on the neonatal ward at the Countess of Chester hospital. | Letby denies murdering seven babies and attempting to murder another 10 infants between June 2015 and June 2016 on the neonatal ward at the Countess of Chester hospital. |
| The University of Chester graduate told police that she did not have a relationship with any of the parents of the babies once they had left the neonatal unit. | The University of Chester graduate told police that she did not have a relationship with any of the parents of the babies once they had left the neonatal unit. |
| The jury has previously been told that Letby searched Facebook for parents up until April 2018, three months before she was first arrested. The court has heard that the nurse also carried out social media searches for the parents of children who do not feature in the trial. | |
| In interviews read to the court on Thursday, Letby denied harming any babies in her care. | In interviews read to the court on Thursday, Letby denied harming any babies in her care. |
| When told that she had been spotted at Child A’s incubator shortly before his fatal collapse, she said: “I don’t know how this occurred but I didn’t do anything deliberately … Yes, they quoted me at the incubator but that doesn’t mean I was doing anything untoward.” | When told that she had been spotted at Child A’s incubator shortly before his fatal collapse, she said: “I don’t know how this occurred but I didn’t do anything deliberately … Yes, they quoted me at the incubator but that doesn’t mean I was doing anything untoward.” |
| Asked about Child A’s twin sister, who suffered a near fatal collapse two days after the death of her brother, Letby told officers: “I didn’t do anything deliberately to [Child B] to harm her.” | |
| The trial continues. | The trial continues. |