18 August 2023 , 19:09
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The parents of twin brothers who were targeted by Lucy Letby said the “hateful” nurse had taken “everything” from them.
Letby murdered one of their baby boys, and the following day tried to kill the other twin. They revealed how their surviving twin has been left with a lot of “complex needs” because of the “hateful human being”.
The mum, speaking to BBC Panorama, told how they were on first name terms with Letby who'd told them she was happily single and hoping to buy a house. They shared their own struggles, the mum said, explaining: "We were actually told we would never have our own children."
They found out they were having twins in 2015 after several failed IVF attempts and they were born prematurely in the summer. The twins, known as Baby E and Baby F, lay side-by-side in incubators and were doing well. But the mum said as she approached their room one evening, she could hear what sounded like screaming.
Police bodycam footage showing the moment Letby was arrested in 2018 (Cheshire Constabulary/AFP via Ge)"I've never heard anything like it since," the mother says. "I was like, 'What's the matter with him?'" "It was a sound that should not come from a tiny baby," she said while giving evidence at Letby's trial, in November.
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When she walked into the room she discovered it was one of her babies - Baby E - making the noise, who had blood around his mouth. As she tried to comfort her baby, Letby was the only other person in the room.
"You know when it feels like somebody wants to look busy, but they're not actually doing anything?" she told the BBC. She asked Letby what was wrong with her son and the nurse told her the baby's feeding tube must have been rubbing the back of his throat.
She said she had already called a registrar, who would be there soon. Letby told her not to worry, to go back to her ward and that she'd be contacted if there was a problem. "She has this really calm demeanour about her," the mother told the BBC. "She's very softly spoken."
When the baby's condition deteriorated later on, his mother watched through the glass as medics crowded around his incubator, attempting to resuscitate her son. She remembers Letby was there but didn't make eye contact with them. By the time the baby's father arrived, a priest had been called, and the parents were taken to be with their child. "We were told to talk to him, and hold his hand," says the mother, "and then he was christened."
Members of the Cheshire Police investigation team embrace following today's verdict (Getty Images)In tears the mum explained how the consultant told them there was nothing more to be done and she wanted him to’ die in your arms rather than being worked on'. "And they passed him to us, and he died,” the mum said.
The parents remember Letby looking visibly upset before taking control of the situation. "She bathed him and then she dressed him in a little woollen gown and gave him back to us," says the mother, "and we held him for a little bit longer."
Doctors initially decided the cause of Baby E's death was a bowel condition, and that his premature birth was a factor. The mother said Letby had given both twins a cuddly toy and later showed her a photo of her surviving baby, Baby F, holding his twin brother's teddy.
"She said: 'He rolled over and hugged his bear - I thought it was so amazing I took a picture for you,'" the mother remembers Letby saying.
At first they were comforted but soon they realised new born babies can't roll over - their neck and arm muscles aren't strong enough. During the trial, medical experts concluded Baby E’s cause of death was internal bleeding and an injection of air into his bloodstream.
His twin brother Baby F, became critically ill within 24-hours of his sibling's death. The parents were told his heart rate had become dangerously high.
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"I said to my husband: 'Please, not again, we - we can't do this again, this can't be happening.'" She remained by his cot all night.
Medics managed to save Baby F and the parents were told their son had an infection. It was only two years later that they learned that his intravenous feedbag had been poisoned with insulin.
They say their child, who is now seven years old, has been left with severe learning difficulties and "a lot of complex needs". "There's a consequence," his mother says, "and he's living with it."
Letby has "taken everything from us - absolutely everything," she says. "I think she's a hateful human being."