A young boy died from “callous, cruel and ultimately fatal” abuse at the hands of his mother’s boyfriend, and his body was found in a stroller in the bathroom of temporary housing in Ipswich, a court heard.
Two-year-old Isabella was also found to have cocaine in her system and had suffered severe injuries, possibly including being “kicked or stamped”.
Her mother, former daycare worker Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, 24, cried in court as she appeared alongside Scott Jeff, 24, who is both accused of murdering her daughter.
Prosecutor Sally Howes KC told Ipswich Crown Court that Isabella was the daughter of Gleason-Mitchell and a man called Thomas Wheildon.
The barrister said emergency services found the teenager dead at the temporary accommodation unit run by Ipswich Borough Council in Sidegate Lane, Ipswich, on June 30 last year.
His body was discovered after a woman reported the pair to police shortly after 11am after receiving a message on Facebook Messenger from “a friend”.
“This message revealed that his friend’s daughter had died in her sleep three days earlier and was in the stroller in the bathroom,” Ms Howes said.
“This friend was the first defendant, Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, and her daughter was Isabella.”
He said the woman did not know Gleason-Mitchell’s current address, but she was located by police and officers arrived just after 1pm the same day and found Isabella dead.
Gleason-Mitchell and Jeff deny that Isabella was killed between June 26 and 30 last year.
Jeff pleaded not guilty to a charge of causing or permitting the death of a child and two counts of cruelty to children.
Ms Howes told jurors that Gleason-Mitchell caused or permitted the death of a child and admitted two counts of cruelty to children.
He said Isabella’s autopsy examination found “extensive external traumatic injuries to the soft tissues of the body, including the head, neck, trunk, limbs and other areas.”
Miss Howes said Isabella suffered fractures to both wrists and a “complex pelvic fracture involving several bones”.
He said that the cause of death was given as “bone marrow embolism due to skeletal trauma.”
The lawyer said the damage to Isabella’s pelvis was described as “serious” and was “probably caused by kicking or stamping or both.”
“This is the claim that Isabella Wheildon was a healthy, contented, well-cared-for little girl until Scott Jeff came into her young life,” Ms. Howes said.
“He was two years and nine months old when he died.
“Towards the end of May 2023, he began a relationship with Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell.
“From then until her death, Isabella was subjected to a regime of escalating brutality that was callous, cruel and ultimately fatal.”
He said Isabella’s “own mother, Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, stood back and watched, did nothing and allowed this to happen.”
Ms Howes said Gleason-Mitchell’s family home was in the Biggleswade area of Bedfordshire and Jeff’s last known address was his parents’ address in the same area.
But they left the area together, staying in hotels in Great Yarmouth, a caravan park and “camping in a very small tent on Caister beach” in Norfolk before arriving in Ipswich.
Ms Howes said Gleason-Mitchell had previously been in contact with housing services at Great Yarmouth Borough Council.
“She stated that she, her daughter and her partner were homeless, had been evicted from their home in Bedfordshire and were escaping domestic violence from her ex-partner,” Ms Howes said.
“He also stated that Scott Jeff was Isabella’s father.”
The council ruled that Gleason-Mitchell was the responsibility of authorities in Bedfordshire.
Ms Howes later told her they “offered a place for him and Isabella but this was not acceptable to him as Scott wanted to stay with Jeff”.
The barrister said Gleason-Mitchell and Jeff were arrested in Bury St Edmunds in the early hours of July 1 last year after being spotted by police.
In his prepared statement to police, Jeff said he “never assaulted Isabella or committed any illegal acts with her.”
She said she “began to notice bruises on her face” and “expressed concerns to my partner, who told me these marks were nothing to worry about.”
Ms Howes said Gleason-Mitchell told police “he did not kill his daughter and thought it was the damage Scott Jeff had done to her that killed her”.
“The violence started when there were problems with toilet training,” he said, adding: “If Isabella had said she was a mama’s girl, Scott would have hit her.”
“Scott said he didn’t have any injuries before he and Jeff left,” Ms Howes said.
“He admitted he needed to get help.”
Ms Howes said cocaine and a by-product of it were detected in Isabella’s blood and the results “indicated that Isabella had taken cocaine”.
He said “concentrations were low” and it was not possible to determine the amount ingested and when it was ingested, but “it was probably ingested the day before death or earlier.”
The lawyer said it was not known how the substance was swallowed, but suggested that a person who smoked crack cocaine might have smoked second-hand cigarette smoke.
Analysis of the hair samples also detected the presence of a substance consistent with “passive exposure to marijuana,” he said.
The trial, which will last six to eight weeks, continues.