Prosecutors believed the collapses and deaths of 17 babies were the work of nurse Lucy Letby.
Prosecutors believed the collapses and deaths of 17 babies were the work of nurse Lucy Letby.
A hospital in the United Kingdom told a nurse who wanted to support Lucy Letby she should not give evidence in her case, it has been claimed.
A nurse who trained with Letby at the Countess of Chester Hospital told the Telegraph that she was asked to be a character witness by the defence but her national health service trust advised her against getting involved.
A second nurse, and a registrar who still work for the hospital, also said they had been instructed by bosses not to talk about the case, despite previously voicing their support for Letby.
Last year, Letby, 34, was convicted of the murders of seven newborns and the attempted murders of six at the hospital between 2015 and 2016. This month, she was also convicted of the attempted murder of another baby girl.
But recently many scientific and medical experts have come forward to challenge the evidence that was presented to the jury.
The nurse who trained with Letby said she believed she was innocent, and had been made a scapegoat for bad practice on the neonatal ward, which she witnessed first hand.
Speaking anonymously for fear of reprisals, she said: “I never felt comfortable working on the ward, there was always an attitude of if you were a bit ballsy and happy to mock other people, you fitted in very well, and if you were a bit quieter and wanted to get on and do your job and keep your head down, you would become a victim.”
She added: “Lucy was always very quiet with people she didn’t know but she adored looking after those babies and building that relationship.
“She got on really well with families and children and she used to get a lot of thank-you cards from the families.
“She was always very good at building rapport and looking after babies was her passion, you could tell as soon as she walked on the ward she loved it.
“I was approached by her lawyers to ask if I would be a character witness. I talked to my trust about it and I was advised it would be better not to, as it could hurt my career.”
Lucy Letby. Photo / Facebook
The nurse said she had not realised how dysfunctional the Countess of Chester neonatal ward was until she moved to a different hospital.
She described how during night shifts, nurses on the ward would “pull a name out of a hat” and whoever got picked would be able to leave early, despite still being in charge of a baby.
Instead of carrying out a correct handover, they would leave a written note by the infant, leaving the baby without oversight for hours at a time.
“One thing that really struck me as odd, was on night shift, if it was quiet, they would pick a name out of a hat and that nurse would go home early,” she said.
“And it wasn’t like ‘you go home I’ll take your patient’ it was ‘write the handover on an A4 bit of paper, stick it next to the baby’. I look back and think, what an absolute idiot I was to go along with it and think that was normal.
“It wasn’t until I left and went somewhere else I realised this wouldn’t be allowed anywhere else. The ward definitely had its own little special practices.”
Senior staff at hospital would prank nurses
She also described practical jokes played on the nurses by senior staff who would use a voice changing device to phone the nurses’ station pretending to be patients. On one occasion after being tricked, she found staff “having a right old giggle” at her expense.
According to the nurse, on one occasion Letby was also left humiliated after being called and asked to find a patient named “Micky Button”. After a fruitless half-hour search, Letby discovered it was the nickname for a piece of medical equipment.
“They thought it was really very funny that they had been able to trick Lucy when obviously it wasn’t and it was unprofessional,” she added.
“That would never happen in the hospital I am in now, so there was definitely a culture of this being fun to mock and attempt to humiliate people.”
Lucy Letby.
Speaking about her thoughts when Letby was arrested, she added: “My first thought was it’s not true. I thought they’ve got this massive spike in death rates and they found a scapegoat.
“I think there are some things that Lucy has done such as taking handover sheets home which isn’t normal and isn’t right, but that’s not evidence of anything more.
“Other people that I know that I’ve spoken to were all under the impression that it’s all a massive mistake. But it’s been really hard to find the courage to talk about it.
Nurse calls Lucy Letby case ‘miscarriage of justice’
“I think she is innocent and I think there should be a retrial and I don’t understand why her defence doesn’t seem to have called some of the witnesses that could have helped. I think there has been a miscarriage of justice.”
Asked what could have caused the deaths in the neonatal unit if Letby was not responsible, the nurse said: “It sounds like it was short-staffed and they maybe shouldn’t be looking after babies that were that sick and premature.
“That probably contributed to what happened, but a spike in mortality isn’t necessarily an unusual thing. You do have ups and downs.”
Other staff have also felt unable to come forward to support Letby because they are still working for the national health service.
When the Telegraph approached former colleagues, this paper was largely met by a wall of silence, with doctors and nurses concerned about jeopardising their careers should they question the evidence and the decision reached by the jury.
One doctor who had worked alongside Letby on the Countess of Chester’s paediatric ward said he had been advised not to comment by the hopsital.
Asked at his home in Chester, a 15-minute walk from the hospital, about the possibility that Letby may have been a victim of a miscarriage of justice the 41-year-old said: “Yes I did work with Lucy, but I’m afraid I just can’t say anything”.
‘I know there are lots of people who still want answers’
The registrar added: “I still work at the hospital and we’ve been asked and advised not to say anything about the case”.
Another nurse who had also worked with Letby, summed up the mood both of doubt about the safety of the convictions and the widespread reluctance to discuss the matter.
“I know there are lots of people who still want answers,” she told the Telegraph.
A spokesman for the Countess of Chester Hospital foundation trust said: “Due to the ongoing police investigations and the pending public inquiry, it would not be appropriate for the trust to comment further”.
National Health Service England declined to comment.
