Court hears that no evidence links Letby to the insulin injection into TPN bags as part of the alleged attack on newborns

Murder-accused nurse Lucy Letby would have needed an almost “Nostradamus-like ability” to predict the future in order to deliberately target one of her alleged victims, a court has heard. Letby, aged 33, faces charges of attempting to murder a twin baby boy by poisoning him with insulin, just a day after she is accused of murdering his brother.

Her barrister, Ben Myers KC, argued that the case against Letby lacked evidence. He questioned the prosecution’s claims, suggesting it was unrealistic to suggest that Letby could have known how to target the baby without access to key information. “How on earth is this a targeted attack unless Miss Letby had a Nostradamus-like ability to read the future? This is completely unrealistic,” Myers said.

The prosecution claims that Letby, working as a neonatal nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital, contaminated two bags of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) that were to be given intravenously to a baby referred to as Child F. It is alleged she injected insulin into the first bag during the night shift on August 5, 2015, which caused Child F’s blood sugar levels to drop dramatically.

When the second TPN bag was used, a blood sample reportedly showed that synthetic insulin was present — even though no insulin had been prescribed. However, Myers disputed these claims, arguing that there was no evidence to suggest Letby had interfered with the bags of TPN. He further pointed out the challenges of carrying out such an act without detection, especially since the insulin would have had to be injected without raising suspicion.

“It’s quite easy to make the allegations but it would be quite difficult to carry out,” said Myers. He added that Letby did not have exclusive access to the TPN bags and pointed to the impracticality of knowing which bag would be needed later in the day. “Even if somebody guessed that a maintenance bag may be needed in an unexpected way, they are not to know what bag would be taken,” he said, describing the scenario as “like a series of Russian dolls of improbability.”

The defence also highlighted that there were several stock maintenance bags stored in the neonatal unit’s fridge at the time, further suggesting it would have been impossible for Letby to foresee which bag would be used. Myers argued that it was illogical to hold Letby responsible for an act that seemed to be a matter of pure chance.

Letby, from Hereford, denies the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of ten others between 2015 and 2016.