Mother said child had bruises and ‘we will get done’, toddler murder trial hears

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A former nursery worker accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter told a friend she could not call police after the toddler died as the child had bruises and “we will get done for it”, a court heard.

Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell and her then boyfriend Scott Jeff, both aged 24 and of no fixed address, both deny murdering her daughter Isabella Wheildon.

Police found the toddler dead in a locked bathroom at a temporary housing unit in Ipswich on June 30 last year.

Giving evidence at Ipswich Crown Court on Wednesday, Gleason-Mitchell’s friend Joanne Gardner described her as a “really nice girl, down to earth”.

She said they met at temporary accommodation at Sandy in Bedfordshire some time after Miss Gardner arrived there in July 2021 and had remained in touch through messaging afterwards.

Miss Gardner said that Gleason-Mitchell was in a relationship with Isabella’s father, Thomas Wheildon, at the time they first met.

“I couldn’t fault them – they were brilliant parents, they loved her to bits,” Miss Gardner said.

She said that in May 2023 Gleason-Mitchell messaged her to say she and Mr Wheildon were no longer together.

Miss Gardner said that Gleason-Mitchell had later asked her for money, on one occasion asking for £60 as “I’ve got nowhere to stay tonight with Isabella”.

Gleason-Mitchell, whose family home was in the Biggleswade area of Bedfordshire, said in a message that she was in Great Yarmouth trying to find somewhere to live.

In a message to Miss Gardner, the defendant said: “The council are refusing us saying we (are) safe to go back to Bedfordshire.”

Miss Gardner told jurors that in a subsequent conversation “she told me that Isabella was dead”.

In a message read to the court, Gleason-Mitchell said: “We can’t call police as she developed bruises and we will get done for it.”

Miss Gardner said Gleason-Mitchell “was trying to tell me Thomas was not Isabella’s dad – it was Scott the new boyfriend I didn’t know”.

Gleason-Mitchell sent a series of voice notes, with one saying: “We literally can’t go to the police because she’s covered in bruises.”

In a further message, Gleason-Mitchell told Miss Gardner: “I feel like we’re just going to bury her and hope for the best.”

Miss Gardner said Gleason-Mitchell asked her to delete the messages from her, and gave the “impression the police were there”.

Miss Gardner called social services at around 10.50am on June 30 last year and then dialled 999 at 11.07am the same day to report her concerns, jurors heard in an agreed fact.

Alex Kettle-Williams, prosecuting, said police attended the temporary housing unit in Sidegate Lane, Ipswich at 1.07pm the same day.

She said Miss Gardner had reported to police that Gleason-Mitchell had “told her that her daughter had died three days ago and was still in her pushchair”.

Escorted by a hostel officer, police “noted the flat to be empty, the bathroom door to be shut and locked”, the barrister said.

She said a police officer noted a “strong stale smell and a pushchair with several blankets over it pushed into the shower”.

“When he removed the last blanket he saw the face of a young child,” she said.

Isabella was officially pronounced dead at 1.20pm.

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

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

Jurors were previously told that Gleason-Mitchell had admitted to causing or allowing the death of a child and two counts of child cruelty.

Sasha Wass KC, for Gleason-Mitchell, asked Miss Gardner if Gleason-Mitchell was “somebody who could be bullied”, and she replied “yes”.

Christopher Paxton KC, for Jeff, asked Miss Gardner: “If you don’t know Scott Jeff you don’t know anything about his character, do you?”

She replied: “No I don’t.”

The trial continues.