By Daniel O’Donoghue
BBC News
Nurse Lucy Letby has told a court she did not only cry when talking about herself during her evidence but also when talking about some of the infants she has been accused of attacking.
The 33-year-old is accused of murdering seven babies and the attempted murders of 10 others between 2015 and 2016.
Ms Letby has denied all charges.
Asked under cross-examination why she had not cried while speaking about the children, she said: “I have cried when talking about some of those babies.”
Prosecutor Nick Johnson KC began his examination of Ms Letby at Manchester Crown Court after she had earlier been questioned by her defence barrister Ben Myers KC about the deaths of two triplet brothers on successive days.
Mr Johnson asked the nurse if there was “any reason that you cry when you talk about yourself but you don’t cry when talking about these dead and seriously injured children?”
“I have cried when talking about some of those babies,” she replied.
He then accused Ms Letby of suggesting consultant Dr Ravi Jayaram had “deliberately misled” the jury when he gave evidence.
Dr Jayaram previously told the jury he saw Ms Letby standing by the incubator of one of the babies she is accused of attacking, known to the court as Child K, as the baby’s blood oxygen levels plummeted.
He said no alarms were sounding and the nurse was “doing nothing”.
Ms Letby told the court she was feeding another baby in another nursery at that time and did not “recall any conversation with Dr Jayaram that night.”
Mr Johnson put it to her that she was suggesting Dr Jayaram was “making it up”, to which she replied: “I don’t think I said yesterday he was making it up.”
The prosecutor then turned to the medical handover notes found at her home, which the court has heard were discovered in police searches.
The nurse said the notes were not taken “intentionally” and had still been “held in confidence”.
Mr Johnson questioned that, stating the notes had been “in a bin bag in your garage”.
“Do you obey the rules when it suits you?” he said.
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