Toddler found dead in a pushchair in a bathroom had suffered ‘cruel’ abuse

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A toddler died of “callous, cruel and ultimately fatal” abuse at the alleged hands of her mother’s boyfriend, with her body discovered in a pushchair in the bathroom of temporary housing in Ipswich, a court has heard.

Two-year-old Isabella was also found with cocaine in her system, having been subjected to extensive injuries which likely involved “kicking or stamping”.

Her mother, former nursery worker Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, 24, wept in court as she went on trial alongside Scott Jeff, 24, with both accused of murdering her daughter.

Sally Howes KC, prosecuting, told Ipswich Crown Court that Isabella was the daughter of Gleason-Mitchell and a man called Thomas Wheildon.

The barrister said that emergency services found the youngster dead at a temporary housing unit run by Ipswich Borough Council in Sidegate Lane, Ipswich, on 30 June last year.

Her body was discovered after a woman reported the couple to the police shortly after 11am, after receiving a communication on Facebook Messenger “from a friend of hers”.

“That message disclosed that her friend’s daughter had died in her sleep three days before and was in her pushchair in the bathroom,” said Ms Howes.

“That friend was the first defendant, Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, and her daughter was Isabella.”

She said that the woman did not know Gleason-Mitchell’s current address but it was identified by police and officers arrived just after 1pm the same day and found Isabella dead.

Gleason-Mitchell and Jeff both deny Isabella’s murder between June 26-30 last year.

Jeff denies one count of causing or allowing the death of a child and two counts of child cruelty.

Ms Howes told jurors that Gleason-Mitchell had admitted to causing or allowing the death of a child and two counts of child cruelty.

She said that a post-mortem examination of Isabella identified “extensive external traumatic injuries to the soft tissues of the body including head, neck, torso, limbs” and other areas.

Ms Howes said Isabella sustained fractures to both wrists and a “complex pelvic fracture involving several bones”.

She said that her cause of death was given as “bone marrow embolism caused by skeletal trauma”.

The barrister said the damage caused to Isabella’s pelvis was described as “severe” with the “likely cause… either kicking or stamping or both”.

“It’s the prosecution case that Isabella Wheildon was a healthy, contented, well-cared for little girl until Scott Jeff came into her young life,” said Ms Howes.

“She was two years and nine months old at the time of her death.

“Towards the end of May 2023, he entered a relationship with Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell.

“From that time up to her death, Isabella was subjected to a regime of escalating brutality which was callous, cruel and ultimately fatal.”

She said that Isabella’s “own mother Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell stood back, watched, did nothing and allowed this to happen”.

Gleason-Mitchell’s family home was in the Biggleswade area of Bedfordshire, Ms Howes said, and Jeff’s last known address was his parents’ address in the same area.

But they left the area together, staying at hotels in Great Yarmouth, a caravan park and “camping in a very small tent on Caister beach” in Norfolk before they ended up in Ipswich.

Ms Howes said Gleason-Mitchell had earlier been in contact with housing services at Great Yarmouth Borough Council.

“She stated she, her daughter and her partner were homeless, that they had been kicked out of their home in Bedfordshire and were escaping domestic abuse from her ex-partner,” Ms Howes said.

“She also stated Scott Jeff was Isabella’s father.”

The council determined Gleason-Mitchell was the responsibility of authorities in Bedfordshire.

They later offered her “a place for her and Isabella but that wasn’t acceptable to her as she wanted to remain with Scott Jeff”, Ms Howes said.

The barrister said that Gleason-Mitchell and Jeff were arrested in Bury St Edmunds in the early hours of July 1 last year after they were seen by police.

In a prepared statement to police, Jeff said he “didn’t assault or commit any unlawful act in relation to Isabella at any time”.

He said he had “started to notice bruising on her face” and “raised concerns with my partner who suggested those marks were nothing to worry about”.

Ms Howes said Gleason-Mitchell told police “she didn’t kill her daughter and she thinks it’s the harm Scott Jeff did to her that killed her”.

She said the “violence started when there were problems with potty training”, adding: “If Isabella said she was a mummy’s girl Scott would hit her.”

“She said she had no injuries before going away with Scott Jeff,” said Ms Howes.

“She admitted she should have got help.”

Ms Howes said cocaine – and a bi-product of it – were identified in Isabella’s blood and the results “demonstrate Isabella had ingested cocaine”.

She said the “concentrations are low” and it was not possible to determine the amount ingested and when, but it was “likely to have been in the previous day or so prior to death”.

The barrister said it was not known how it was ingested, but suggested second-hand smoke from a person smoking crack cocaine as a possibility.

She said that analysis of hair samples also detected the presence of a substance consistent with there having been “passive exposure to cannabis”.

The trial, to last between six and eight weeks, continues.