A nurse accused of murdering seven babies in her care handwrote a confession which said: "I am evil", a court has heard.
UK nurse Lucy Letby, 32, is accused of killing seven babies and injuring 10 others over a year-long killing spree at the Countess of Chester Hospital in England between 2015 and 2016.
In court, jurors were shown a green post-it note which said: "I don't deserve to live. I killed them on purpose because I'm not good enough."
She also allegedly wrote: "I am a horrible evil person" and in capital letters, "I AM EVIL I DID THIS."
According to court documents, Letby is alleged to have taken photos of two babies' bodies after she had killed them.
One doctor was said to be optimistic about his prospects. Then "all of a sudden Lucy Letby said to him something like 'he's not leaving alive here, is he?'", said prosecutor Nick Johnson KC.
Shortly after, another child collapsed and died, Manchester Crown Court heard.
He said: "That remark surprised [the doctor] but Lucy Letby's prediction came true. After all, she knew what she had done to him and therefore she knew what was likely to happen.
"It is certainly what she intended because it was something she had done to so many other children."
The child's death was recorded as "prematurity" by the Coroner. However, independent experts believe air was injected into his stomach which compromised his breathing.
The nurse's tightly-written notes were shown to the jury during the trial. Photo / CPS
She denied causing the first or third of the triplets any deliberate harm.
In the first murder count, Letby was said to have injected air into the child, but the defence does not accept an air embolus - or air bubble - was the cause of death.
A third child, who Letby is also alleged to have murdered by injecting him with air, was a "very premature" baby, born at 30 weeks.
Letby is accused of attempting to murder two children by poisoning them with insulin.
She is also accused of attempting to murder one baby by deliberately dislodging a breathing tube.
The 32-year-old is also accused of deliberately harming another child by a nasogastric tube being pushed into his throat causing him to scream.
Letby allegedly murdered or harmed others by injecting air or milk into their bloodstream or via a tube in their stomachs.
Many of the nurse's alleged victims were premature babies.
Letby's lawyer claimed there were widespread problems with the neonatal unit, suggesting it was overstretched and understaffed, and pointed to a range of potential causes of death for the babies who passed away.
However, the Crown says the collapses and deaths of all 17 children in the case were not "naturally-occurring tragedies".
Letby denies all 22 charges, which are said to have taken place between June 2015 and June 2016.
