A mother accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter told a friend she couldn’t call the police after the toddler died because she was covered in bruises and ‘we’ll get by ‘, a court heard.
Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell and her then-boyfriend Scott Jeff, both 24 and of no fixed address, each deny murdering Isabella Wheildon.
Police found the toddler dead in a locked bathroom at a temporary accommodation unit in Ipswich on June 30 last year.
Jurors at the city’s crown court heard on Wednesday that Gleason-Mitchell sent a message to friend Joanne Gardner saying they were ‘just going to bury her and hope for the best’.
Mrs Gardner described Gleason-Mitchell as a ‘really sweet girl, down to earth’.
She said they lived in temporary accommodation in Sandy, Bedfordshire sometime after Mrs Gardner arrived there in July 2021 and had kept in touch through messages afterwards.
Mrs Gardner said 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,” Mrs Gardner said.
She said that in May 2023 Gleason-Mitchell messaged her to say that she and Mr Wheildon were no longer together.
Mrs Gardner said Gleason-Mitchell had later asked her for money, on one occasion asking for £60 as “I have 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 stay.
In a message to Mrs Gardner, the defendant said: “The council is refusing us and saying we (are) safe to go back to Bedfordshire.”
Mrs Gardner told jurors that in a subsequent conversation she ‘told me Isabella was dead’.
In a message read to the court, Gleason-Mitchell said: ‘We can’t call the police as she has developed bruising and we will manage.’
Mrs Gardner said Gleason-Mitchell ‘tried to tell me Thomas wasn’t Isabella’s father – it was Scott, the new boyfriend I didn’t know’.
Gleason-Mitchell sent a series of voicemails, one of which said: ‘We literally can’t go to the police because she’s covered in bruises.’
In a further message, Gleason-Mitchell told Mrs Gardner: ‘I feel like we’re just going to bury her and hope for the best.’
Ms Gardner said Gleason-Mitchell asked her to delete the messages from her and gave “the impression that the police were there”.
She called social services around 10.50 on June 30 last year and then called 999 at 11:07 a.m. the same day to report his concerns, jurors heard in an agreed upon fact.
Alex Kettle-Williams, prosecuting, said police attended the temporary accommodation unit in Sidegate Lane, Ipswich at 10am. 13.07 the same day.
She said Mrs Gardner had reported to police that Gleason-Mitchell had ‘told her her daughter had died three days ago and was still in her pram’.
Escorted by a hostel officer, police noticed that the apartment was empty, that the door to the bathroom was closed and locked, the lawyer said.
She said a police officer noticed a “strong, old smell and a pram with several blankets over it was pushed into the shower”.
“When he removed the last blanket, he saw the face of a small child,” she said.
Isabella was officially pronounced dead at 1:20 p.m.
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 abuse.
Jurors were previously told that Gleason-Mitchell had admitted causing or allowing the death of a child and two counts of child abuse.
Sasha Wass KC, for Gleason-Mitchell, asked Gardner if Gleason-Mitchell was ‘someone who could be bullied’ and she replied ‘yes’.
Christopher Paxton KC, for Jeff, asked her: ‘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.
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