An alleged killer nurse was interrupted by the mother of one of her victims who paid her baby boy a visit at the neonatal unit her trial has heard.
Lucy Letby is accused of murdering five baby boys and two girls, and attempting to murder 10 other babies at Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016.
Manchester Crown Court heard child E’s mother did not realise he was being attacked and was told by the nurse the blood from his mouth was due to a tube.
Letby, 32, denies 22 charges.
The nurse, of Hereford, is accused of murdering child E and attempting to murder his twin, child F.
The court heard how the twins had been born prematurely and Letby was the designated nurse for both boys.
One night, their mother, who was an inpatient on the postnatal ward, decided to visit her twin sons in the neonatal unit.
The jury was told the mother interrupted Letby, who was in the process of attacking child E, but she did not realise this.
The court heard child E’s mother found her son acutely distressed and bleeding from his mouth.
Letby attempted to reassure the mother that the blood was due to the tube irritating his throat, the court heard.
The jury was told Letby said to the mother: “Trust me I’m a nurse.”
The court heard the nurse urged the mother of child E to go back to the postnatal ward, which she did, but was so concerned that she phoned her husband.
The jury was told that Ms Letby later made a record on the nursing notes which was not true – about the time that the twins’ mum came to visit her sons.
Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC said: “We say that the nursing notes made by Lucy Letby are false, misleading and designed to cover her tracks.
“They fail to mention that child E was bleeding at 21:00 BST and they mention a meeting between his mum and a doctor that neither of them remember.”
The court heard child E was bleeding so heavily that one of the doctors said he had never encountered such a large bleed in a small baby.
Subsequent expert evidence established this would have represented a combined loss of more than 25% of child E’s blood volume, the court was told.
The jury heard after child E’s death his parents did not wish to have a post-mortem examination, the doctor on-call did not deem one necessary and the coroner’s office agreed.
The trial continues.
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