Mrs Patel is charged with murdering three of her own babies

A mother accused of suffocating three of her own babies did not appear particularly caring, a nurse has told Reading Crown Court.

Trupti Patel, 35, is accused of murdering her sons Amar, aged three months, Jamie, aged 15 days, and her daughter Mia, aged 22 days.

Mrs Patel denies suffocating her babies either by squeezing their chests or blocking their noses or mouths between December 1997 and June 2001.

Helen Johnson, a community paediatric nurse, told the court about a visit she made in June 1999 to Mrs Patel and her husband's home in Maidenhead, Berkshire, soon after the birth of their second son Jamie.

Mrs Johnson said: "She was flat, flat as in not unresponsive, but she didn't seem particularly demonstrative towards the baby."

I remember very clearly that she said she wanted to enjoy him as a normal baby for as long as possible Helen Johnson Paediatric Nurse

The home visit was part of a special scheme designed to educate parents about the risks of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (cot death).

Mrs Patel's first son, Amar, apparently died of the syndrome on 10 December 1997 when he was three months old.

Mrs Johnson said the scheme provided the Patels with specialist equipment to help prevent cot deaths.

During one of her visits, Mrs Johnson said she had been concerned that Jamie was too hot under a duvet next to Mrs Patel in bed.

"She didn't respond at all to my request," she said.

"I asked her again to pull the duvet back but again - no response."

Duvet was 'too hot'

She said: "One of the reasons that children can become victims of cot death is they overheat, so being under an adult's duvet I thought is too much for them."

When asked by the prosecution how Mrs Patel acted towards her son, Mrs Johnson said: "During the visit she didn't touch him. He was next to her and she looked at him but she didn't make contact with him."

Asked if she thought this was unusual in a mother who had lost her baby to cot death Mrs Johnson said: "She was not displaying a level of anxiety that I have seen on previous visits.

"I've done a lot of home visits and other parents are very anxious and it's the level of anxiety that I hadn't witnessed in Mrs Patel."

Mrs Johnson also said Mrs Patel refused a resuscitation training course which her husband had accepted, saying she had already been taught.

Nurse felt concern

Mrs Patel also refused the breathing monitor for her son, saying the wires would remind her of the attempts to resuscitate her first son.

Mrs Johnson said: "I remember very clearly that she said she wanted to enjoy him as a normal baby for as long as possible."

When Jamie died on July 6, 1999 aged just 15 days the pathologist had said the death was a "very unusual event".

But it was not until the death of Mrs Patel's daughter Mia on June 5, 2001, 22 days after she was born, that police launched an investigation.

Paramedics Robert Townson and Martin King then told how they found Jamie unconscious at the Patel's house during a call out-on 5 July 1999.

Mr Townson said the child was blue around the lips, ears and hands but was still slightly warm and was in his mother's arms.

He showed the court how resuscitation and heart massage was delicately attempted using just one finger.

The baby was then taken by air ambulance to Wexham Park Hospital, Berkshire, he said.

On the way, his pulse returned but he was not able to breathe without a ventilator.

The trial continues.