Seven months on from the start of her trial at Manchester Crown Court, Lucy Letby, 33, has been on trial at Manchester Crown Court for seven months, accused of murdering five boys and two girls, and attempting to murder another five boys and five girls, between June 2015 and June 2016.

Letby, from Hereford, denies all the offences said to have taken place at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital.

Letby, wearing black trousers and a black top, was flanked by two female prison officers.

Several rows behind, her parents, John, 76, and Susan, 62, looked on – as did family members of the alleged victims on the other side of the public gallery.

She started her evidence by confirming some personal details with her barrister, Ben Myers – her name and date of birth.

Letby said she grew up in Hereford with her mother and father and always wanted to work with children.

She said she studied her nursing degree at the University of Chester and was the “first person in her family to go to university”, and went on numerous work placements, she said, with the majority at the Countess of Chester Hospital, either on the children’s ward or the neo-natal unit.

Letby said she qualified as a Band 5 nurse in September 2011, and had cared for hundreds of babies during 2015 and 2016, denying ever wanting to hurt any of them.

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She said she was “devastated” when she was removed from clinical duties, told by the hospital trust, to check staff were competent to do their jobs.

"I have always prided myself on being very competent and, potentially, I was not competent, it really affected me and I was taken away from the job I loved," she said.

“It was life-changing, in that moment I was taken away from the support system I had on the unit, I was put in a role I did not enjoy and I had to pretend it was voluntary. It made me question everything about myself.”

Letby said she was first informed she was being blamed for the deaths of babies in a letter from the Royal College of Nursing in September 2016, finding the allegation "sickening".

She described her three arrests as “traumatising” and “the scariest thing I have ever been through”, and said she had now been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Asked by her barrister Ben Myers KC about a Post-it note one which she had written 'I am evil I did this’, which was referred to earlier in the trial by the prosecution, Letby said she had written it “Because I felt at the time I had done something wrong and I thought I’m such an awful, evil person … that I had made mistakes and not known".

Mr Myers also asked about the hundreds of searches she had made for people on Facebook, some of which related to the parents of babies she allegedly murdered or tried to kill.

Letby said: “They’re just people that have crossed my mind at that time. It’s general curiosity that I look at a lot of people.”