Parents found newborn girl under Lucy Letby's care 'covered in faeces'

The parents of an extremely vulnerable newborn girl have said they were disgusted to find her "covered in her own faeces" while under the care of the nurse Lucy Letby.

- Josh Halliday

The inquiry into the murder of babies at the Countess of Chester hospital heard how one baby had been fitted with a stoma and a catheter, known as a Broviac line, after her birth in October 2015.

The girl, known as Child J, had a "high risk" of catching an infection after bowel surgery and suffered a series of unexplained and unexpected collapses on the hospital's neonatal unit, the Thirlwall inquiry was told yesterday.

The child's mother described finding her six-week-old daughter in a cot with her stoma reversed and her lower half covered loosely with a soiled towel. "I just took one look at her and was just disgusted really to see her in that situation and also incredibly saddened, being a mum in that situation, thinking what's happened here?" she said.

The mother said it showed a "lack of care and humanity towards a child that was recovering from surgery" and was at "high risk" of becoming infected because of her Broviac line.