THE Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit nurse accused of several baby murders looked up the mum of Child A and Child B on Facebook three times in the days following Child A's death.
Letby denies murdering seven babies and attempting to murder 10 more at the unit between June 2015 and June 2016.
Prosecuting at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday, October 18, Nicholas Johnson KC asked intelligence analyst Claire Hocknell, employed by Cheshire Police as part of the Letby investigation, to talk through documents collated and presented to the jury as part of an electronic bundle.
Among the evidence were clinical records and charts, 'swipe data' showing who had accessed the neonatal unit at what times, and data recovered from Letby's mobile phone.
On Letby's phone were records of four Facebook searches for the name of Child A and B's mum. One was made hours after Child A fatally collapsed at 8.58pm on June 8. Letby carried out the search at 9.58am the following day.
The phone recorded another search on Facebook for the mum of Child A and B at 11.31pm on June 10, then June 25 at 9.50pm.
A fourth Facebook search was carried out in September.
The court was also shown text messages and Whatsapp conversations sent between Letby and nursing colleagues before and after Child A died.
Letby said to one colleague, in the hours following Child A's death, she "didn't want to see [Child A's] parents" and, to another colleague: "I think we did everything we could under very difficult circumstances."
A colleague had messaged Letby: "Luckily it doesn't happen very often here, not that that's any consolation at all."
Letby added that night shift had been: "the hardest thing" she ever had to do, before adding: "Anyway, hopefully have a more positive one tonight [June 9]."
That night, Child B suffered a non-fatal collapse at 12.30am.
It is the prosecution's case that Letby injected air into Child A and B to cause the collapses. The defence deny that happened.
At the start of her night shift at 8pm, Letby texted a colleague: "Just a big shock for us all. Hard coming in tonight and seeing the parents."
In a separate conversation, with a nursing colleague who had been looking after Child A prior to his death, she informed the colleague the baby had died.
The colleague responded: "I didn't know actually, thanks for letting me know. That's terrible!"
Letby replied: "It was awful...he died very suddenly and unexpectedly just after handover. Not sure why. It's gone to the coroner."
The colleague: "Oh god, he was doing really well when I left."
Letby said: "I was not supposed to be in either - [boss] swapped my nights as unit busy - but these things happen unfortunately."
Letby's colleague: "Yeah it's the business we are in unfortunately...hopefully [Child B] will be ok in the end."
On June 30, following the deaths of Child A, C and D, and the non-fatal collapse of Child B, Letby's colleague messaged her there was something "odd" about what had happened.
Letby replied: "What do you mean? Odd that we lost three and in different circumstances?"
Letby's colleague responded: "I don't know, were they that different?"
The colleague added: "Ignore me, I'm speculating."
The court also heard that, as Child A's designated nurse, Letby had gathered a lock of hair, handprints and footprints for Child A after he died, in accordance with the family and to be delivered to them as part of mementos, along with photographs.
Nursing notes at the time recorded the family were too upset and bereaved to accept the memory box initially, and were advised they could take the box to keep when they were ready.
Messages also showed nursing colleagues had praised Letby for how she had managed during her shift the night Child A died.
One told her: "You did amazing...so proud of you. Don't mean to sound patronising, that's genuine."
The trial continues.
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