Letby seemed excited to discuss deaths of babies, Thirlwall inquiry hears

Lucy Letby responded to the death of a newborn baby in a manner that a children's nurse said she had "never seen" before or since, a public inquiry was told yesterday.

- Josh Halliday

Letby was heard discussing in an "excited" way the death of two triplet babies in 24 hours in June 2016. Nicola Lightfoot, the deputy children's ward manager at the Countess of Chester hospital, said she had heard Letby say in an animated way to a colleague just after the second death: "You'll never guess what just happened."

Lightfoot said: "It was like she was talking about some exciting event she had seen or witnessed on the unit... it wasn't an appropriate response to the death of a child. I had never-and I have never since - seen a response like that from a nurse involved in a child's passing." Lightfoot said she was "quite shocked" by Letby's response to the deaths of the two-days-old triplets, which the inquiry has heard left nurses "stunned" because the infants had been assessed as "doing really well" before they died suddenly.

Another nurse, Melanie Taylor, told the Thirlwall inquiry last week how Letby had discussed a child's death with her in an "excited" and "gossipy" way.