THE mum of a baby boy allegedly murdered by Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit nurse Lucy Letby told medical staff trying to resuscitate him: "Please don't let my baby die."

Manchester Crown Court heard statements today (Monday, October 17) from the family of Child A and Child B, twins born at the hospital in June 2015. Due to reporting restrictions, neither the children nor the parents can be named.

Letby, originally from Hereford, denies murdering seven babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and attempting to murder 10 more between June 2015 and June 2016, when she worked there as a neonatal unit nurse.

Jurors began to hear evidence about her first two alleged victims in June 2015 – twins who suffered sudden collapses in their incubators.

Letby is said to have fatally injected an excess amount of air into the bloodstream of Child A, and then attempted to murder his sister, Child B, via the same method. Letby denies both allegations.

Prosecuting, Philip Astbury read out statements made by the parents of Child A and Child B, and mother of Child A's mother. The statements were 'agreed facts', in that the defence did not challenge anything that was said in them.

The court heard the mother had a previously diagnosed blood condition, for which she was receiving treatment and had planned to have her delivery by a specialist doctor outside of Chester at the conclusion of her pregnancy.

However, symptoms developed late on in her pregnancy, including rising blood pressure, and the decision was ultimately made for her to give birth in an emergency Caesarean section operation under general anaesthetic at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

The mum had been "very upset" about this, but was told it was "too risky" for her originally planned delivery outside of Chester.

After the operation, both Child A, a boy and Child B, a girl, were moved into the neonatal unit, and the mum was said to be still "poorly".

She said in her statement she was increasingly anxious to see her babies, and was given the opportunity to do so once she was well enough to go to the neonatal unit in a wheelchair.

The parents' statements say they saw both Child A and B for about an hour on June 8, and were told they had been "doing well" and were "fine" in their incubators.

But hours after their return to the labour ward, a nurse came into their room urging them to "come in quickly" as there was "something wrong" with one of the twins.

The mum said: "All I can remember is coming in and seeing what felt like hundreds of people trying to resuscitate [Child A]."

A nurse came over asking if the parents were religious, in case they wanted a prayer to be said for child A.

The mum was asked for permission by medical staff to stop resuscitative attempts.

"I couldn't bring myself to say stop."

The grandmother, in her statement, said: "The minute I went into that room and saw that baby boy, I knew he was gone.

"Everybody was desperately trying to help him. The room seemed full of medical staff.

"[My daughter] was sobbing uncontrollably at this point - 'please don't let my baby die, please don't let my baby die'."

The father, in his statement, recalled: "Neither one of us wanted to say stop.

"I said something along the lines of 'you have to let him go, he's not there any more, you have to let him go'."

The mum recalled: "The only thing I could bring myself to do was nod my head," and that was the permission for staff to stop resuscitation attempts.

She added: "One of the things that upsets me the most is I never had the chance to hold him in my arms."

The mum said, following the death of Child A: "I was frantic, anxious and extremely upset."

Afterwards, the mum said she wanted a member of the family to keep an eye on Child B at all times.

After saying goodbyes to Child A, upon her return, she was asked if she wanted to hold Child B, who couldn't be out of the incubator for a prolonged period of time as her body temperature would fall otherwise.

She said: "I felt joy and sadness at the same time."

Later, on June 9, the parents were woken up by a female member of staff to come quickly to see Child B.

She said: "My heart sank - not my baby, not again."

They were told Child B had suffered a similar situation to Child A, with oxygen saturation levels falling, but she had stabilised.

Blotches and mottling had been on Child B's skin.

The mum recalled: "[The consultant said] she had never seen this before - I remember being surprised by this."

Said consultant had asked to take photos of the blotches, but by the time a camera was arranged, the blotches had disappeared.

The mum did take a photo the following day, noticing the hands and feet were still "a little discoloured".

In the following four weeks, until Child B was discharged from the neonatal unit, her mum would go to see her every day from 9am until the night-time shift change-over, and had an alarm call on her phone set for every two hours to call the dedicated neonatal unit parent line through the night, to check she was all right.

"I was, and still am, extremely protective of her," she added.

The trial continues.