she's taken everything from us, absolutely everything. ..the doctor who tried to raise the alarm... it was quite clear that they didn't think it appropriate to go the police at that stage. ..and the friend who's stood by her. she would only everi want to help people. to say that she could have harmed any baby, um, - it'sjust not in her nature. we reveal how hospital bosses protected lucy letby... the reputation of the organisation and protecting that reputation was a big factor in how people responded to the concerns raised. ..and how it was the doctors who stopped the murders. it's unprecedented.

it's something which you would never believe could be possible, the potential that there could be a serial killer in their local hospital. tonight, the untold story of britain's most unlikely serial killer. we were actually told we would never have um, our own children. and then i found out i was pregnant, and then we found out we were having twins on valentine's day. wow. which was lovely. can you remember when you first saw them? there wasjust like a sheer elation

and happiness that i'm like, i've never felt that before or since. you rememberfeeling like a new dad? yeah, yeah. i was very proud. the twins were born ten weeks early. they were being cared for at the neonatal unit of the countess of chester hospital. only five days old, one of the boys suddenly became unwell. in the corridor, i could immediately hear crying or... it was, it felt more than crying. and i walked into the room, seeing it was my boy and he had blood round his mouth. and, and lucy was there,

but faffing about, not really, not doing anything. you know when it feels like somebody wants to look busy but they're not actually doing anything? the crying, um, i've never heard anything like it since. it was screaming and i was like, "what...what�*s the matter with him?" lucy said, "oh, don't worry." she has this really calm demeanour about her and she's very softly spoken. don't worry, the registrar was coming. she'd already contacted him. he was on his way. she told me to go back to the ward.

i was trying to reassure my wife that, listen, these people are experts and, you know, if they say there's not a problem, you've got nothing to worry about. and that was the first phone call, quickly followed up by a second phone call, um, with a midwife, saying, "you need to get here now", and there was a third phone call telling me, "where are you? the priest has been called." and ijust knew. i knew at that point, you know, you don't call a priest unless someone's dying. then we were taken in and we were told to talk to him and hold his hand and then

he was christened. the conversation with the consultant, they said, you know, "we're going to stop. it's no good. "you know, we've been working on him and it's not helping. "and we, we want, we want him to die in your arms rather "than being worked on." so we said ok, and they passed him to us, and he died. doctors put the death down to a bowel condition and the premature birth. it wasn't considered suspicious, so there was no

postmortem examination. after your son had died, what was lucy letby doing? she asked about if i would like her to bath him in front of me, so i said, yeah. so she bathed him. and then she dressed him in a little woollen gown and gave him back to us, and we held him for a little bit longer. there had previously been two or three deaths a year at the neonatal unit. but something unusual was happening in 2015. the baby's death in august

was the fourth that summer. another three babies had already died injune. a review of the care of all three babies was done, and there was nothing in common that we could pin these three deaths on. but the staffing analysis did identify that lucy letby was on shift for those three episodes. and did that worry you? well, i think i can remember saying, "oh, no, it can't be lucy. "not nice lucy." news presenter: the trial of a nurse who's accused of murdering seven - babies and attempting to kill ten. others at a hospital in chester has heard how a pattern had emerged of babies dying or suffering - collapses when she was on duty.

hi, can ijust talk through what we're doing this morning? so the one are interested in... lucy letby has been on trial at manchester crown court since last october, accused of killing and harming babies. i've been covering the 33—year—old's case from the start. the only thing that might be a bit of a crunch, sort of depends how long the evidence goes on for, is for me to turn around the radio 1300 at the same time as the tv one. this is my office for the day, outside the court. lucy letby will be a few metres away, on the other side of that wall, inside, being taken from a prison van. the stakes in this case couldn't be more extreme at both ends of the scale. so if she's convicted, lucy letby becomes britain's most prolific child killer. if she is acquitted, then i don't know what's happened here.

you know, this has been a very, very long prosecution, involving many years of investigative work, and there's a nurse at the middle of it who will have been found to have done nothing wrong. we're talking about vulnerable babies, in a hospital, no less. it's unprecedented. it's something which you...you would never believe could be possible, the potential that there could be a serial killer in their local hospital. ajudge has ordered the babies and their families cannot be identified. but the parents have given statements in court. i was never given the impression that our daughter's condition was life—threatening, and it didn't even cross my mind

that she was in danger of dying. we were just standing there looking, as our daughter was dying. _ someone was holding a phone to the doctor's ear. _ then a doctor told them to stop. the postmortem results from the time are interesting. one of them identifies the cause of death as damage to the heart. another one talks about "pneumonia with acute lung injury". and one simply says cause of death "unascertained . none of them talk about harm — or murder. i don't recall the first time that i met lucy letby. she started work in 2012. she didn't strike me as much different to most nurses on the unit. you didn't have any worries about her doing thejob?

i don't think anybody did. it's something that nobody really wants to consider, you know, that a member of staff might be harming the babies under your care. lucy — she was respectful. lucy was always very softly spoken and she seemed quite timid, and that was her whole demeanour. first name terms, you're calling her lucy. absolutely. she told me about her life, we told her about our life. she told us, well, she told me that she was single and she was quite happy being single, and just general chit—chat and things like that. after each of the deaths,

lucy letby sent texts to colleagues. in october 2015, a fifth baby died unexpectedly on the unit. her mother also gave a statement to the court. in october 2015, a fifth baby died unexpectedly on the unit. her mother also gave a statement to the court. lucy letby and another nurse asked me if i wanted to bathe my baby. while we were bathing her, lucy came back in.

she was smiling and kept going on about how she was present at the first bath and how our daughter had loved it. i wished she would just stop talking. a few weeks later, the parents received a sympathy card. "thinking of you today and always. "sorry i cannot be there to say goodbye. lots of love, lucy. " doctors couldn't find a medical connection between the deaths. but in all five cases, lucy letby was on duty. it was the first time i started to have some concerns about the unusual nature of the collapses and the deaths. i emailed the unit manager after this death in october and asked to discuss lucy letby and her association with the deaths.

we've obtained previously unseen hospital documents — including the response from the unit manager. she says it is unfortunate that lucy letby was on duty. however, each cause of death was different and some were poorly prior to their arrival on the unit. what do you read from that? she was intimating that the fact that lucy letby was present each time was an unfortunate coincidence. she couldn't make thatjump to even consider that somebody on her unit was harming babies intentionally. news presenter: a nurse accused of multiple baby murders _ at the countess of chester hospital was seen crying as she said, - "it 5 always me when it happens".

in manchester, lucy letby�*s trial has been going on for three months. this is the neonatal unit. how long have i got to script over that opening? well, i've got the sort of door shot. i've been here most days. this is the neonatal unit at the countess of chester hospital where lucy letby worked. it's an odd feeling in the courtroom. you know, you've got the parents of each baby sitting listening to this very harrowing evidence, and just a few yards away, behind the glass of the dock, lucy letby is sitting, listening. she's generally passive, no real expression. it's really hard to try and read lucy letby, to tell what she's thinking. i'm finding that very hard. that courtroom, as you will know, it's such a highly emotional and charged place to be

in and sit in. i feel, this whole situation, i think she's feeding off it. i think she feeds off other people's pain. do you ever look across at her and think it's possible she didn't do it? no. i can't get over the impression of lucy letby that you get looking at these social media photos — sparky, full of fun, popular. she looks like the life and soul of the party in these pictures. this is... i don't know what britain's most prolific child killer should look like.

i'm pretty sure it's not this, though. this here is aylston school where i first met lucy and where we became friends. dawn has known lucy letby since secondary school. she's agreed to talk about her friend for the first time. we'd come down, walk into town, have meals along this strip, and hang out on the cathedral green. just here? yeah, yeah. hereford is definitely very much home for her. lucy, you know, has such strong ties to her family here. did lucy always know she wanted to do nursing?

yeah. it was the only career that i ever remember her saying that she wanted to go and do. she had had a difficult birth herself and she was very grateful for being alive to the nurses that would've helped save her life. um, so i feel like everything that she did was geared towards that ultimate goal of becoming a nurse. outside of our group, she would present as more shy, reserved, serious, you know, level—headed, but inside the safety of our group, she sort of let her hair down a bit more and is goofy and makes us all laugh. very bubbly, loves a cocktail, you know, just the fun of getting dressed up and going out with your friends. after school, lucy letby studied

nursing in chester and went on to work in the city. she bought a house, adopted cats, rescue cats, which were her whole world. and went out salsa dancing. she was doing the job that she loved and the job that she's always wanted to do. given that, can you think of the possibility that she harmed babies? it is the most out of character accusation that you could ever put against lucy. you think of your most kind, gentle, soft friend, you know, and think that they could... they're being accused of harming babies. she is the kindest person that i've ever known. she would only ever want to help people. to say that she could have

harmed any baby, it's just not in her nature. news archive: the former nurse beverley allitt has been found - guilty of murdering four children who were in her care. _ lucy letby isn't the first health care worker accused of being a serial killer. news archive: today dr harold j frederick shipman was convicted of murdering 15 of his patients. you know, at the end of the day, i've worked with so many serial killers in my career, and all of them quite liked having the power to be able to decide who would live and who would die. because of course, that's the ultimate power for god. does lucy letby fit the profile of what you'd say is a health care serial killer? no, she doesn't. she is very social. she's very socialised, she has friendship groups. she has people in the hospital who,

um, befriended her, mentored her. she is somebody that's seen not suspiciously. there's no evidence that she's fascinated by serial killers. i read the prosecution's opening account of the evidence and i thought, is that it? and i say that because i kept thinking there would be more. clearly it's circumstantial, and often murder cases are often solved by circumstantial evidence, but there was no smoking gun in the letby case. it wasn't just the five unexpected deaths that were creating suspicion. another five babies almost died on the unit in unusual circumstances over the same period. lucy letby was present each time.

then, in february 2016, a consultant says he saw her standing and watching when a baby seemed to have stopped breathing. dr ravi jayaram got up from the nursing station and walked in, and saw that lucy letby was there, and lucy letby was not doing anything, and the baby, who was there with lucy letby at the cotside, the baby was desaturating. he asked lucy letby what was going on, and lucy letby then said, "0h, he'sjust started, he'sjust started declining now." the baby survived the incident. there were seven consultant paediatricians working on the unit. all of them now thought something was badly wrong. this is the first time the lead consultant has spoken publicly about their concerns.

some of the babies didn't respond to resuscitation quite how we would have expected them to. most babies, you'd get a heart rate back and they'd start... their breathing would get better. but that didn't happen in these cases like you'd expect, which was unusual. a hospital boss who took over after the baby deaths has also agreed to talk. she's now suing the hospital for constructive dismissal. i had described to me a horrifying realisation on the part of the pediatricians. one of them said, "every time this is happening to me, "that i'm being called in for these catastrophic events, which were "unexpected and unexplained, lucy letby is there." and then somebody else said, "yes, i found that." and they all realised that the common factor for each

of them was letby's presence on the unit. dr brearey emailed the unit manager again in march 2016, saying, "we still need to talk about lucy." he'd also asked for an urgent meeting with hospital bosses. it was three months before that meeting took place. so, you'd asked for an urgent meeting? that's correct, yes. it was quite surreal, because we had these concerns, and as a group, our concerns were rising. and there was... there's no communication from senior managers in the trust. i wasn't there. i can't really comment on those events other than to say if that had

been raised with me, i would have met with them within 24 hours. between march and june 2016, another three babies almost died unexpectedly while lucy letby was working. then, towards the end ofjune, she was helping to care for two—day—old triplets. one boy died around 6pm. less than 2a hours later, his brother was dead too. to be clear, these babies, the triplet babies, were in very good health. mm—hm. consecutive days. mm. can you remember what went through your mind on those two days? slight disbelief, really,

that it could be happening, and a little bit of anger and confusion, and a feeling of, we really need to do something about this. i know how distressed the consultants were by this point. it was a stark illustration of the desperation of staff who were trying to understand why these events were happening on the unit. after the death of the second triplet, a meeting was held for staff. lucy letby was there. she was sitting next to me. and i spoke to her towards the end of the meeting, and said how tired and upset she must be after two days of this, and hoped that she was

going to have a restful weekend, and she turned to me and said, "no, i'm back on shift tomorrow", which struck me as being...incredible, really. the other staff were very traumatised by all of this, crumbling before your eyes, almost, and she was quite happy and confident to come into work on the saturday. that night, dr brearey called a senior hospital manager. he asked her to stop lucy letby working. the manager refused. i challenged her. i said, "well, are you saying that you're making this "decision against the wishes of seven consultant paediatricians?" and she said, yes." and i said, "well, if you're making this decision, "are you taking responsibility

for anything that might "happen tomorrow to any other of our babies?" and she said, yes." and, um, the phone call stopped shortly afterwards. the following day, another baby almost died while lucy letby was on duty. she was finally removed from the neonatal unit three weeks later. the suspicious incidents stopped. news presenter: a doctor has told a court that he felt extremely - uncomfortable at the thought of the nurse lucy letby- being alone with a baby girl. yes, and today, we had evidence not just about lucy letby herself, but also the way in which the countess

of chester hospital is said to have dealt with doctors' concerns. at the trial in manchester, one of the seven consultants has criticised the hospital in court. what today's shown in my mind is that there's no good outcome for the hospital here. you know, this consultant ravi jayaram saying he wished he'd just gone straight to the police and hadn't toed the party line. that's really stark. what we heard today really laid out the case beyond just lucy letby, but the wider picture of what was going on at that hospital. i think the hospital senior management will have some serious questions to answer, no matter how everything unfolds as a result of this trial. either we have, you know, someone who's causing deliberate harm on the neonatal unit, and concerns were raised, and they were not followed up on by... ..by senior management, or we have one, a case

where the mortality rate at the neonatal unit was far higher than it should have been, unacceptably high, and not enough was done to mitigate against that. from the summer of 2016, lucy letby was moved to administrative duties. but there was still no formal investigation into why so many babies had died or come close to death. the internal documents we've obtained reveal one consultant asked for the police to be called in. a hospital manager replied: "action is being taken," and ordered: "all emails cease forthwith." but the police weren't called. we had a number of meetings with senior management. it was quite clear that, they weren't going to budge and,

they didn't think it appropriate to go the police at that stage.