Lucy Letby: Nurse told colleagues of baby death heartbreak, court told

A nurse accused of murdering babies told a colleague that taking a child to a mortuary in front of his crying father was "the hardest thing I've ever had to do", a court has heard.

Ms Letby has been charged with murdering seven babies and attempting to murder 10 others at Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016.

On Tuesday, the jury heard she messaged a colleague about the death of her first alleged victim in June 2015.

Ms Letby, 32, denies 22 charges.

She was said to have murdered Child A on the evening of 8 June by injecting air into his bloodstream. She then allegedly attempted to murder his twin sister, Child B, by the same method on the following night shift.

At Manchester Crown Court, the jury was shown a series of messages Ms Letby, originally of Hereford, exchanged with other staff members, along with activity on her social media accounts.

Less than two hours after she finished the shift during which Child A died, she made a Facebook search for the child's mother, the court was told.

Another online search for the twins' mother was made on Ms Letby's Facebook account on 10 June.

The court was also told that on 9 June, before her next shift started, she messaged a nurse who asked if she was ok and told her that she thought "we all did everything we possibly could under very difficult and sad circumstances".

"Haven't had much sleep. Don't really want to see parents, but it's got to be done," the message continued.

"I said to [another nurse] that I can't look after [Child B] because I just don't know how I'm going to feel seeing parents.

"Dad was on the floor crying saying 'please don't take our baby away' when we took him to the mortuary. It's just heartbreaking.

"It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Hopefully have a more positive one tonight."

The jury heard that hours later, Child B collapsed while Ms Letby was on duty.

The baby later stabilised and was eventually discharged the following month.

Two days later, Ms Letby texted a nurse who had looked after Child A when he was born.

She wrote that it was "awful", adding: "He died very suddenly and unexpectedly just after handover.

"Waiting for post-mortem results. Hopefully they can get to the bottom of it."

Her colleague messaged that Ms Letby was "not having a great run at the moment", to which she replied: "I was not supposed to be in either.

"I took pictures, hand and footprints etc.

"They are besides themselves worried that they will lose [Child B] too."

The prosecution alleged Ms Letby went on to murder Child C on 14 June and Child D on 22 June.

On 25 June, a third Facebook search for the twins' mother was made by Ms Letby.

Five days later, she told a colleague Child B had moved to a recovery room in the unit following her collapse earlier in the month.

Her colleague told her there was "something odd about that night and the other three that went so suddenly", which prompted Ms Letby to ask: "What do you mean? Odd that we lost three and in different circumstances?"

The colleague messaged back to question if they were different, adding: "Ignore me, I'm speculating."

Ms Letby then replied again, stating that Child C "was tiny, obviously compromised in utero. [Child D] septic. It's [Child A] I can't get my head round."

The court was told a staff debrief into the death of Child A was held on 30 July.

Ms Letby is alleged to have murdered a fifth baby, Child E, on 4 August and then tried to kill his twin brother, Child F, the next day.

The jury was told that over a month later, on 9 September, she again searched for Child A and B's mother on Facebook.

Ten days later, she messaged a colleague to ask about the twins' parents, who said they "seem good" and the baby's father was "loving having [Child B] home".

Ms Letby replied: "That's great. She looks like [the mother]!!"

A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of surviving and dead children allegedly attacked by the defendant, and also prohibits identifying parents or witnesses connected with the children.