A nurse accused of murdering multiple babies said taking a newborn to a mortuary was “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do”.

Lucy Letby messaged a colleague about the death of her first alleged victim at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit in June 2015.

The 32-year-old is accused of murdering Child A on the evening of 8 June by injecting air into his bloodstream and then attempting to murder his twin sister, Child B, by the same method on the following night.

She is accused of murdering seven babies and the attempted murders of 10 others.

On Tuesday, the jury at Manchester Crown Court was shown messages Letby exchanged with other staff members, along with activity on her social media accounts.

Less than two hours after she finished the shift during which Child A died, she made a Facebook search for Child A’s mother, the court heard.

Before her next shift started, a fellow nurse messaged Letby asking: “Hi Lucy. Hope you are OK?”

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Letby responded: “Dad was on the floor crying saying ‘please don’t take our baby away’ when we took him to the mortuary. It’s just heart-breaking.

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Hopefully have a more positive one tonight.”

Hours later Child B collapsed while Letby was on duty, before the youngster later stabilised and was eventually discharged the following month, the court was told.

Another online search for the twins’ mother was made on Letby’s Facebook account on the late evening of 10 June.

‘You are not having a great run at the moment’

Two days later she texted a nurse who had looked after Child A when he was born.

Letby wrote: “It was awful. He died very suddenly and unexpectedly just after handover.

“Waiting for post-mortem results. Hopefully they can get to the bottom of it.”

Her colleague replied: “It’s so terrible. You are not having a great run at the moment. Hopefully we will find out soon.”

The Crown say Letby went on to murder Child C on 14 June and Child D on 22 June 2015.

On 25 June, a third Facebook search for the twins’ mother was made by Letby.

Five days later, Letby messaged a colleague to say that Child B had moved to a recovery room in the unit following her collapse earlier in the month.

Her colleague said: “There’s something odd about that night and the other three that went so suddenly.”

Letby asked: “What do you mean? Odd that we lost three and in different circumstances?”

The colleague replied: “Were they that different? Ignore me, I’m speculating.”

Letby said: “Well (Child C) was tiny, obviously compromised in utero. (Child D) septic. It’s (Child A) I can’t get my head round.”

Letby, originally from Hereford, denies all the offences, which are said to have been committed between June 2015 and June 2016.

The trial continues.

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