A mum and her new boyfriend have been jailed for life for murdering her two-year-old daughter, who was also sexually abused before her death.
Isabelle Rose Welsh was found lying dead at the foot of the stairs at the home she shared with mum Alexandra Walker, 25, in Thornaby, Teesside, last September.
Her body was ‘covered in bruises’ – especially her head, neck, abdomen, back, as well as her genitals and bottom, jurors at Teesside Crown Court were told.
Prosecutor Richard Wright KC said Isabelle had been a happy, healthy child until her mother started dating Harrison Simpson, 22, last summer.
Walker searched Simpson on the sex offenders’ register after she grew suspicious about his behaviour, which included spending ‘a lot of time’ with Isabelle and bathing her without permission.
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She also called him a ‘paedo’ in messages with her mum and said it was ‘weird’ that he preferred to see her and Isabelle rather than spend time alone together.
But despite the apparent concern, she continued to leave her daughter alone in his care.
Walker and Simpson were convicted of murder and child cruelty this week.
He was also convicted of sexually assaulting Isabelle while her mother was cleared of that charge.
The judge, Ms Justice Norton, jailed them both for life, ordering Simpson to serve a minimum term of 28 years and Walker to serve at least 22 years.
The nine female jurors who convicted the pair all returned to court to watch them be sentenced.
Eleven days before the fatal injuries were inflicted, Walker took Isabelle to hospital with a broken leg which raised medics’ suspicions about her care.
Walker had delayed taking Isabelle to be checked out by some two weeks, jurors were told.
Even when Isabelle collapsed at home and was dying Walker again delayed ringing 999, despite Googling ‘why would my toddler be bleeding’ and she smoked a cigarette in her kitchen.
(Picture: NCJ Media)
She first called her step-father to come round and it was only on his instruction that she finally alerted the emergency services.
When paramedics arrived, they found her covered in bruises and there was blood in her nappy.
Isabelle was not breathing and was cold to the touch as medics battled in vain to save her and she died the next day in hospital.
A post-mortem revealed the extent of her injuries – that her skull was fractured, her brain damaged and that she had been sexually assaulted.
Experts told the jury that Isabelle had been shaken and her head impacted against a wall or the floor.
Mr Wright said: ‘Isabelle’s death was not the result of some form of naturally occurring illness.
‘She died because shortly before her terminal collapse somebody had inflicted a massive head injury upon her.
‘Her skull had been fractured, her brain had been injured, and her heart had stopped as a result of that assault upon her.’
He added: ‘For weeks this child had been violently assaulted and her death, by that terrible head injury, was simply the end point in that campaign of violence to which she had been subjected.’
Walker and Simpson had met on Facebook Dating earlier last summer and he became a regular visitor to the house where she and Isabelle lived together.
Walker had suffered from domestic violence previously and she had two cameras installed in her home, with one overlooking the back of the house that captured evidence reflected in a window.
The camera showed how Walker was a frequent drinker, sometimes downing up to 10 cans of Stella Artois, and Simpson was a habitual cannabis smoker.
The couple sold cannabis at times and Walker explained how bouts of self-harm which were caught on her CCTV were attempts to get out of selling drugs.
The CCTV footage also proved that Isabelle suffered a broken leg while in the sole care of Simpson.
Walker’s concerned mother said it ‘looks like she is being abused’ during one visit after Isabelle’s leg was broken.
The night when Isabelle was fatally injured, the couple stayed up late, with Walker drinking cans of lager and Simpson smoking cannabis.
The next morning Simpson got up – claiming to be looking after Isabelle – while Walker stayed in bed.
In a horrific twist of fate one of the nurses who treated Isabelle’s broken leg – and who had concerns about her care – was on duty when she was brought back to University Hospital of North Tees, in a state of collapse 11 days later.
Simpson and Walker were arrested after Isabelle’s death. Simpson declined to answer police questions and did not give evidence at the trial.
Walker gave various accounts of what happened, eventually telling police she now believed her boyfriend had been abusing her daughter.
Mr Wright said Walker did not protect her daughter, saying: ‘On the contrary, she delayed, she deflected, and she failed to act when action was most urgently required.’
Kirstie Devine, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘The prosecution presented a raft of evidence including pathology reports, expert medical evidence, CCTV from the home, records of text messages and phone conversations that showed only the two adults who were regularly with Isabelle could have harmed her.’
Detective Chief Inspector Steve Chatterton said: ‘Isabelle suffered catastrophic injuries at the hands of the very people who should have loved her, cared for her and protected her.
‘Her life was cruelly taken in the most tragic and heart-breaking circumstances.’
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