A mother who carried her battered child’s body in a pram for three days told police her boyfriend had been trying to get her to take the blame for his death, a court heard on Wednesday.
Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, 24, was seen pushing two-year-old Isabella Wheildon in a stroller with her partner Scott Jeff as they visited a variety of places, including a pub and a shop where they bought Xbox equipment.
Prosecutors say Isabella had suffered a “regime of escalating brutality” before she died on June 26 last year in a unit for homeless families in Ipswich, Suffolk.
Gleason-Mitchell and co-defendant Jeff, also 24, allegedly took her with them for several days until a friend told police what had happened and found the girl’s body under blankets in the bathroom. the couple
Jeff claims he had nothing to do with the multiple fractures and bruises found on the boy’s body.
Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, 24, was seen pushing the battered body of two-year-old Isabella Wheildon in a stroller with her partner Scott Jeff for three days after the girl’s death.
Prosecutors say Isabella had suffered a “regime of escalating brutality” before she died on June 26 last year in a unit for homeless families in Ipswich, Suffolk.
Gleason-Mitchell told police that her partner Scott Jeff had been trying to get her to take the blame for the girl’s death.
But Gleason-Mitchell told police during an interview that he wanted her to accept blame for his death.
In an exchange read out at Ipswich Crown Court, she told officers: “He told me to lie, to say it was all my fault.”
‘He wanted to lie so they wouldn’t lock him up and it was me (the one who would be) locked up.
‘It’s all him. I haven’t done anything, but he wants to lie and say that I’m the one who did it, so that he can get away with it and I’ll be the one who falls.’
The former daycare assistant claimed she wanted to contact emergency services after her son’s death, but Jeff objected.
‘He said, ‘Oh, don’t do it, because of the bruises she has.’ We will be finished,’ he said in the police interview.
“I don’t know why I listened to him, but the whole time I was with him I was controlled by him and I felt like I had to listen to him.”
When asked why he didn’t call the police, he added that he had “panicked” and said: “I think I was in shock.”
Isabella, pictured here on a swing with her mother Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, was found dead in a homeless unit in Ipswich, Suffolk.
Gleason-Mitchell, pictured, pleaded guilty to causing or permitting the death of a child and two offenses of cruelty to a child.
‘I should have called them… but I was losing my baby… that was going through my mind… I was a mess. I felt panic.’
Gleason-Mitchell also claims that Jeff wanted her to buy a shovel so he could bury Isabella in a forest or lake.
“I said, ‘That’s my daughter, I’ve raised her for over two years of my life,'” she told officers.
“He kept saying that if the police find us, ‘you’ll be the one who goes down, because you’re the mother.’ I’ll get away with it.”
Describing how he continued to carry Isabella in his pram, the defendant added: “It broke my heart that she was gone. She was the only thing that kept me going. I felt like I wanted a few last days with her.
‘They were going to catch me one way or another. I was trying to find a way to turn myself in but I was too scared.
‘It was because, knowing he had caused the bruises, I was afraid they wouldn’t listen to me. I would never hurt a child.’
Gleason-Mitchell admitted some CCTV footage showed her smiling as she walked with her daughter hidden under a blanket, but claimed it may have been a “fake smile” to avoid looking suspicious.
‘I didn’t hurt her. “That’s what I’m trying to explain,” he continued.
‘I wanted her with me but I was also afraid because she had marks. They would have blamed me as if I were their mother.
The couple visited Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk at one point and Gleason-Mitchell claimed he had gone there to be closer to his family home in Bedfordshire.
“I was hoping my sister could talk some sense into me so I could go to the police station. I listen to my sister, but not when I have other people around me,” she said.
The homeless families unit in Ipswich, Suffolk, where Isabella was found dead
The defendant told police she had seen Jeff “constantly” hitting her daughter in the head, slapping her and force-feeding her until she became ill while struggling to eat.
Isabella initially “screamed” when she was hurt, but then became calmer.
“It’s like all her pain disappears and stops, like she doesn’t know how to cry and she doesn’t know what pain is anymore,” said the tragic girl’s mother.
The court heard how Jeff denied harming the girl except when he tried to give her CPR.
In a prepared statement to police, she claimed she noticed bruises on her body in the days before her death, but her partner told her not to worry about the injuries.
The two-year-old’s body, pictured here in an inflatable ball pit, was carried in a stroller for three days.
Isabella, pictured wearing a pink Minnie Mouse dress, suffered multiple fractures and soft tissue injuries before she died.
The court has been told Isabella was “a healthy, content and well-developed child” before Gleason-Mitchell began a relationship with Jeff in May last year.
Gleason-Mitchell dismissed her version of events as “all lies,” and told police that Jeff began abusing Isabella by patting her hands “for any little accident” while she was potty training.
The court has been told Isabella was “a healthy, content and well-developed child” before Gleason-Mitchell began a relationship with Jeff in May last year after separating from her little boy’s father.
Jeff is said to have believed Isabella could be his daughter, as he and Gleason-Mitchell had sex shortly before she realized she was pregnant.
But paternity tests later showed that he was not the father.
Gleason-Mitchell left her job at a nursery in Bedfordshire on May 24 and left with Jeff for Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, telling her sister that she was “trying to get her head in the right place” and that she was going to give him her relationship with he. Try again.’
The couple and Isabella stayed in a succession of hotels and holiday parks and even camped on the beach before securing a place at the East Villa homeless unit in Ipswich.
The court heard Isabella’s body had multiple fractures to the front and back of her pelvis, which could only have been caused by “high impact or speed”, such as a stamping injury, as well as two broken wrists.
Gleason-Mitchell and Jeff, former residents of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, deny murdering Isabella between June 26 and 30 last year.
Jeff also denies causing or allowing the death of a child and two offenses of cruelty to a child.
But Gleason-Mitchell admitted causing or permitting the death of a child and two offenses of cruelty to a child.
Prosecutors say Gleason-Mitchell “stood by, watched and did nothing” while Jeff carried out his “callous, cruel and ultimately fatal” attacks.
The trial continues.