NURSE Lucy Letby took a lock of hair from a twin baby boy she is accused of murdering hours after his death, a court heard.
She also photographed the newborn’s hand and footprints as part of a memory box to give his heartbroken parents, a jury was told yesterday.
Letby denies murdering seven babies and trying to kill ten more at a hospital neo-natal unit.
Scores of texts with her colleagues following the death of Baby A, in June 2015, were read out.
In one, Letby said: “It was awful. He died very unexpectedly. Dad was on the floor crying, ‘Please don’t take our baby away’.”
A senior colleague at the Countess of Chester Hospital responded: “I can’t imagine how hard that must have been.” Letby, 32, told her: “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
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The colleague said: “You’re not having a good run at the moment.”
Memory boxes can be offered to parents who lose their child. Letby texted: “Hand and footprints and a lock of hair taken.”
After it was handed over, she wrote: “Oh good. Hoped they would find comfort.”
Her internet history also revealed repeated Facebook searches of Baby A’s mother — the first on the morning after his death.
By June 30, nurses were discussing the “oddness” of Baby A’s death and of Baby C and D the same month.
Letby is said to have injected excess air into the bloodstream of Baby A, then tried to murder his twin sister, Child B, the same way. She survived.
Letby, of Hereford, denies all charges. The Manchester crown court case continues.
