THE death of a baby allegedly murdered by nurse Lucy Letby came as a “big surprise” and was “completely out of the blue”, her trial has heard.

The newborn twin died at the Countess of Chester Hospital following a sudden collapse just more than 24 hours after his premature birth.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Child A and his sister, Child B, were moved to the hospital’s neo-natal unit on the evening of June 7, 2015.

Paediatric registrar Dr Sally Ogden clocked off on June 8 before Child A’s rapid deterioration on the night shift.

Medics tried to resuscitate him but their efforts were in vain as he was pronounced dead shortly before 9pm.

Letby, 32, is said to have murdered Child A – within 90 minutes of coming on duty – by injecting a fatal amount of air into his bloodstream shortly before the collapse.

Dr Ogden returned to duty for the following day shift and she and her team were told by a fellow doctor that Child A had died during the evening, the court was told.

In a witness statement, the registrar said: “I remember this came as a big surprise. It was completely out of the blue and very upsetting.

“(Child A) showed no signs of any problems throughout the day. He was handling well.

“I had no concerns at all for him or his twin sister.”

Nurse Melanie Taylor, who was the designated nurse for Child A on the shift before he died, gave evidence in court to say she had had "no concerns" with him and he was "stable", but issues with a cannula and a UVC meant he was not receiving fluids for a couple of hours that afternoon.

Miss Taylor said she was at the computer in the neonatal intensive care unit room where Child A and B were incubated when Child A deteriorated after the 8pm handover.

She said Letby was by the incubator and initially she thought Child A was going to recover "quite quickly", but when it became clear he was not going to recover she went to help.

She told the court: "I kept thinking he was going to recover, but he didn't."

Earlier, the court heard Benjamin Myers KC, for Letby's defence, ask intelligence analyst Claire Hocknell if Letby had made Facebook searches for the parents of many children at the neonatal unit - not just the ones named on the indictment.

Ms Hocknell confirmed that was the case.

Previously the court heard Letby had searched on Facebook for the mum of Child A and B four times in the months following Child A's death and the non-fatal collapse of Child B.

Text message evidence also showed Letby had messaged a colleague at the end of June, following the death of Child A, the non-fatal collapse of Child B and the deaths of Child C and D, to say she had "a mini meltdown...about what's happened at work...

"I just need some time off with mum and dad."

Letby is said to have attempted to murder Child B using the same method on the night shift of June 9.

She is accused of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of 10 others.

A court order prohibits reporting of the identities of surviving and dead children allegedly attacked by Letby, and also prohibits identifying parents or witnesses connected with the children.

Letby, originally from Hereford, denies all the offences said to have been committed between June 2015 and June 2016.