Mum, 24, ‘watched as boyfriend repeatedly beat daughter, two, before pair murdered her’, court hears

A MUM watched as her boyfriend “constantly” beat up her two-year-old daughter in the days before she was killed, a court heard today.

Little Isabella Wheildon allegedly died from her injuries on June 26 last year at the East Villa unit in Ipswich, Suffolk after her mother’s lover Scott Jeff kicked and punched her.

The tot’s mum Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, 24, and her partner continued to push the toddler around in her pram for three days, a court heard.

Jurors were told the couple wheeled her lifeless body around on a shopping trip and even took her into a pub with them.

Police eventually discovered the tragic two-year-old covered in blankets at the homeless unit after a tip off.

One of Gleason-Mitchell’s friend made the report after the mum told them Isabella was dead.

Prosecutors say Gleason-Mitchell “stood back, watched and did nothing” as Jeff, 24, carried out his “callous, cruel and ultimately fatal” assaults.

Gleason-Mitchell made allegations of abuse against her partner when she was asked how Isabella suffered multiple pelvis fractures.

Ipswich Crown Court heard evidence from pathologists who said Isabella was beat with “considerable force” akin to that of a car crash.

They found she had a broken pelvis, two broken ribs, multiple bruises and soft tissue injuries.

Isabella’s cause of death was given as an embolism due to bone marrow from her fractures getting into her lungs.

Gleason Mitchell gave evidence from the witness box today.

The defendant, who denies murdering her daughter, told the court Jeff continuously smacked and hit Isabella during potty training.

She said the abuse started after they went to stay in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, while trying to get re-housed in the seaside town.

The couple had falsely claimed she was fleeing domestic violence from her ex-partner.

Gleason-Mitchell told Ipswich Crown Court Jeff had left bruises all over her daughter but she had failed to stop it.

She said they all went on the train from Great Yarmouth to Ipswich, Suffolk on June 19 after being offered emergency accommodation at the East Villa unit.

CCTV footage from the train was showed to the jury.

It showed Jeff carrying Isabella, who was wearing sunglasses, an accessory he had allegedly given her to cover up her black eyes.

Gleason-Mitchell told the court Jeff assaulted Isabella “constantly every single day” after arriving at East Villa.

She died on June 26, less than 10 days after they moved in.

By June 23, the mum said she “was worried that something bad was going to happen to her because of how many times she was attacked or assaulted.”

The defendant claimed Jeff had manipulated Isabella and turned her against her mum.

She said: “At that time she didn’t even want to come near me.

“She had got it in her head that she needed to go to him and be comforted by him.”

Gleason-Mitchell added that Jeff also repeatedly made Isabella tell him that she was ‘Daddy’s girl’.

The mother admitted to the court she once found Isabella bleeding from her genital area.

She claimed she noticed blood while the toddler was lying down on her Paw Patrol towel and Jeff said he didn’t know what had happened to cause it.

Sasha Wass KC, defending, asked Gleason-Mitchell if she had known how Isabella could have broken her pelvis, and replied: “I witnessed him kicking her in that area constantly and punching her. It was more than once.”

The defendant later said that she meant to saw he was hitting her “repeatedly”.

She described finding Isabella on June 26 in her cot “like she was trying to say something was hurting”.

“She was trying to get her words out. She was trying to speak but just laying in the cot. Her mouth was moving. Her eyes were like moving back,” said the mum.

Gleason-Mitchell said Jeff started performing CPR on her until it was clear she had died.

She admitted pushing Isabella’s dead body around in a pram afterwards.

Jurors were told that Gleason-Mitchell had pleaded guilty to a charge of causing or allowing the death of her daughter.

She confirmed today she entered the plea on the basis that she had not caused Isabella’s death.

Ms Wass asked her: “Did you cause any of those injuries we have seen?’’

To which she replied: “No”.

She added: “Did you even cause on single mark on your daughter’s body” to which Gleason-Mitchell again replied: “No”.

When asked who was responsible for the horror injuries Isabella suffered she replied: “Scott”.

She also confirmed that she had been present when some of them were inflicted and that she had failed to protect her daughter.

ALLEGED CAMPAIGN OF ABUSE

The court heard how Gleason-Mitchell had been in an on-and-off again relationship with Jeff.

They got back together after she left Isabella’s dad, Thomas Wheildon.

The jurors were told how they rented a caravan for four nights at the Haven holiday park in nearby Caister-on-Sea.

They left Isabella in her pram while they went out for periods of around half-an-hour multiple times.

During their time at the holiday park, she said Jeff took control of all the “everyday care” for Isabella.

She admitted she though it was “strange” that he wanted to do nappy changes and feed the toddler.

She said: “He said he had control of her now and needed to do all of her day to day.”

Gleason-Mitchell said Jeff’s abuse of her daughter started when they moved to St George’s hotel in Great Yarmouth.

The defendant told the court: “He would smack her on the hand. It started with the left and the went on the right.

“He was smacking with force. I said that is not the way she should get punished.”

Gleason-Mitchell said he put the tot in cold showers as punishment.

She admitted she watched as he kicked her pram and slap her in the face.

The 24-year-old said it happened when a 14-year-year-old, who was in the hotel with his mother, went into their room to roll a cannabis joint.

Jeff had run out of the drug and was trying to get some from the teen.

She said: “He wasn’t in a good mood at all. He was frustrated. He was angry. It was like he needed some drugs now.”

‘I AM GOING TO STAB YOU’

Jurors were also shown chilling videos taken by Jeff on his own phone.

Disturbing footage revealed the 24-year-old telling Isabella: “I am going to stab you.

“Do you want daddy to give you a knife.”

They had been sat with Gleason-Mitchell in a waiting room at the local council’s housing office at the time.

Another clip showed Isabella crying, and Jeff asking: “Are you upset? What’s the matter? Why are you crying Bella?”

Gleason-Mitchell admitted seeing him make a finger gun gesture at her daughter.

The couple then moved from the hotel and went to the Wild Duck holiday park.

Isabella had bruises and swelling on her face, hands and arms by this point, Gleason-Mitchell told the court.

She said: “At Wild Duck, if she had accidents, he would put her in cold showers again, and was throwing her on the floor and hitting her.

“I told him to stop, but he just pushed me out of the way and said he had control of her now.”

Another video clip was played to the jury that revealed Jeff asking Isabella, “Who is the bad man who hurt you”.

The toddler replied: “Thomas”.

However, Gleason-Mitchell said this was a lie and they had filmed the video in case they were ever questioned by police.

While staying at the Wild Duck park, Jeff started to make Isabella wear dark glasses to hide her black eyes.

Gleason-Mitchell and Jeff, formerly of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, have denied murdering Isabella between June 26 and June 30 last year.

Jeff has also denied causing or allowing the death of a child and two offences of cruelty to a child.

Gleason-Mitchell has pleaded guilty to causing or allowing the death of a child and two offences of cruelty to a child.

The trial continues.