Just a recap again today…
A mum and her boyfriend blame each other for sexually and physically abusing a toddler ‘murdered’ in her own home, a court had been told.
Alexandra Walker and Harrison Simpson were charged with murder and serious sexual offences after Isabelle Welsh endured weeks of alleged abuse.
The two-year-old suffered 21 fractured bones and about 100 bruises or cuts on her body before she suffered a catastrophic bleed on the brain.
Teesside Crown Court heard how the youngster suffered horrendous abuse at the hands of both defendants before he died in September last year.
The prosecution maintain that both were responsible for inflicting the multitude of injuries within weeks of them becoming a couple.
In his closing speech at Teesside Crown Court today (Wednesday, July 22), Nicholas Lumley KC, representing Simpson, said his client had no motive to hurt Isabelle or any history of violence.
He said that there is a ‘stark’ lack of evidence against his client in relation to the sexual assault charge.
“There is nothing at all to connect him to the sexual assaults,” he said.
Mr Lumley said Walker had more than enough opportunities to inflict the injuries on her daughter and had shown that she was "capable of violence" through her messages and calls.
"The contrast between Harrison Simpson and Alexandra Walker in terms of motive and capacity, never mind the opportunity, could not be greater," the barrister said.
Dealing with his client declining the chance to give evidence during his trial, the barrister said he did not want to "throw himself to the lions" and urged the jury to find him not guilty of all charges.
Mark McKone KC, representing Walker, told the jury that the 26-year-old "had never and would never" hurt her daughter.
He said she did not turn a blind eye to her daughter’s abuse but accepts that she could have acted differently on occasion in the weeks leading up to her death.
The court heard how medical experts said Isabelle suffered her fatal head injury and showed signs of significant sexual trauma on September 13.
“We submit, these events happened at the same time between 8am and 11am when Simpson was in sole charge of Isabelle,” he said.
“We submit that Simpson then put Isabelle’s fatally injured body back into her cot.”
The barrister added: “It would be very strange indeed if she looked after Isabelle well for over two years but then started regularly breaking Isabelle's bones or encouraging someone else to do that.”
Earlier, jurors had looked at computer-generated images cataloguing the bruising and scratching covering the toddler’s entire body.
Dr Sam Hoggard, a Home Office pathologist, said that the vast majority of the injuries would have been clearly visible to the naked eye during weeks of abuse.
Simpson, 22, of Greenham Close in Thorntree, Middlesbrough, and 26-year-old Walker, of Hartington Close in Thornaby, both deny murder.
The pair also deny four other charges involving Isabelle, including: causing or allowing the death of a child on September 14; two counts of assault by penetration between September 10 and September 14 last year; and cruelty to a person under 16.
The trial continues.
