A ‘poisoner was at work’ at a hospital where there was a ‘significant rise’ in the number of healthy babies dying, a British court has heard.
Lucy Letby has been accused of murdering five baby boys and two girls, and attempting to murder 10 other babies at Countess of Chester Hospital in northwestern city of Chester.
Prosecutor Nick Johnson said she was a ‘constant malevolent presence’ in the hospital’s neonatal unit.
Letby, 32, of Hereford, denied 22 charges at Manchester Crown Court.
Jurors heard Letby is alleged to have tried to kill one child three times, while another died as a result of being injected with air.
Family members of some of the babies concerned in the case were among those present in the court as Johnson opened the prosecution.
He said the Chester institution was a “busy general hospital like so many others in the UK”.
However, he said that “unlike many other hospitals, within the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital, a poisoner was at work”.
“Prior to January 2015, the statistics for the mortality of babies in the neo-natal unit at the Countess of Chester were comparable to other like units,” he said.
“However, over the next 18 months or so, there was a significant rise in the number of babies who were dying and in the number of serious catastrophic collapses.”
He said the increases were noticed by hospital consultants
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