A Newent Child Killer mother, Melissa Wilband, who fatally shook her four-month-old daughter has been sentenced to JUST 15 years in prison.
Melissa Wilband, 28, was convicted by a jury of the manslaughter of Lexi Wilband, who fell at their residence in Newent, Gloucestershire, in April 2020.
Bristol Crown Court was informed that testing indicated Lexi’s death resulted from bleeding on her brain, possibly due to intense shaking, both lately and on at least one prior occasion.
Lexi Wilband passed away at Bristol Children’s Hospital on April 18, with a nurse grasping her hand, six days following her fall.
Melissa Wilband’s ex-partner, Jack Wheeler, 31, was exonerated of the charges related to Lexi’s death.
Mr. Jack Wheeler was additionally charged with Lexi’s manslaughter; however, this accusation was formally retracted during the trial when prosecutors presented no evidence against him.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Saini said he was satisfied Melissa Wilband had shaken Lexi twice. “Lexi Wilband was about four months old when she died. She was a healthy baby,” he said.
“It is important that we recognise this is about her life being taken. You killed Lexi Wilband by violently shaking her at the family home in Newent.
“Lexi Wilband was killed by you when the country was in the first national Covid-19 lockdown. After the evening meal you were bathing Lexi and you shook Lexi and immediately after this, she went floppy.
“Your shaking of Lexi Wilband led to severe bleeding in her brain. I am sure on the evidence that Lexi had been shaken by you in another, less violent, incident before that Easter Sunday.
“Only you will know why you acted in the way you did. It is hard to imagine the pain that Lexi Wilband must have suffered both from the past violence and the violence that led to her death. She would have cried out in anguish.”
During the trial, jurors were told that Melissa Wilband and Mr Jack Wheeler were in a relationship for about three years, but Lexi Wilband was conceived with another man in early 2019.
However, Melissa Wilband told Mr Jack Wheeler, of Ledbury, Herefordshire, that he was the baby’s biological father and presented him with a fake DNA certificate that claimed he was “100%” the “farther” of her then-unborn child.
A genuine DNA test after Lexi Wilband’s birth in November 2019 confirmed that Mr Wheeler was not biologically related to her, but he remained with Melissa Wilband and brought up Lexi Wilband as if she were his own child.
Jurors heard how Melissa Wilband, who had a volatile relationship with Mr Jack Wheeler, took cocaine just six days after Lexi Wilband was born.
On April 12 2020, Melissa Wilband made a 111 call from the new-build council house where she lived with Mr Jack Wheeler and Lexi Wilband.
She claimed Lexi Wilband had stopped breathing while in her bouncer chair.
Lexi Wilband was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and was intubated, with Melissa Wilband asked if she would like to hold her baby before the procedure took place. She declined to do so.
The infant was then transferred to Bristol Children’s Hospital, where Melissa Wilband told medics that Mr Jack Wheeler had been carrying Lexi Wilband in her bouncer chair and was swinging it. A decision was made to switch off Lexi Wilband’s ventilator on April 17, following the results of an MRI scan.
Jurors were told that Melissa Wilband spent three hours with Lexi Wilband that evening before leaving to go to sleep in a different part of the hospital.
Jane Osborne KC, prosecuting, said Melissa Wilband was aware that her baby might die during the night but did not stay at her bedside.
“A staff nurse held Lexi Wilband’s hand through the night and remained with her,” Ms Osborne said.
“On the morning of April 18, Lexi seemed to have longer pauses in her breathing. Ms Melissa Wilband was told to attend the ward. She arrived just after Lexi Wilband had ceased to show any signs of life and had stopped breathing.”
A post-mortem examination gave Lexi Wilband’s cause of death as bleeding to the brain, caused by a non-accidental traumatic event such as someone “shaking her violently”, Ms Osborne said.
Further tests found the areas of bleeding in Lexi Wilband’s eyes were “too numerous to count”, she added.
Giving evidence, Melissa Wilband denied ever shaking Lexi Wilband and said she had a “bad wrist” that meant she was physically unable to shake her, and sought to blame her partner.
Mr Wheeler said he had no idea why Lexi Wilband had collapsed and denied carrying her in the bouncer chair.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Jack Wheeler’s mother Donnah Davies and father Paul Wheeler said they knew Lexi was not their biological granddaughter “but it made no difference to us”.
“She was a beautiful little baby girl and we loved her,” they said. “Lexi was in our lives for such a short time but we will never forget her. I keep photographs of her on my phone. I can say that Lexi Wilband’s death is something that Paul Wheeler and I will carry with us for the rest of our lives.”
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