A jury was informed that a two-year-old girl was likely killed by child killers Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell and Scott Jeff, her companion, having been kicked or stamped, as the murder trial commenced.
Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell and Scott Jeff, both 24 years old and without a permanent residence, deny the murder of Isabella Wheildon, who had a series of severe injuries prior to her demise.
Sally Howes KC, representing the prosecution, informed Ipswich Crown Court that Isabella Wheildon was the offspring of Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, who sobbed during the commencement of the proceedings, and a man named Thomas Wheildon.
The barrister stated that emergency services discovered the deceased youth at a temporary housing facility operated by Ipswich Borough Council on Sidegate Lane, Ipswich, on June 30 of the previous year.
She told the court the toddler’s cause of death was likely to have been “either kicking or stamping”.
It came after a woman reported to police, shortly after 11am on June 30, that she had received a communication on Facebook Messenger “from a friend of hers”.
“That message disclosed that her friend’s daughter had died in her sleep three days before and was in her pushchair in the bathroom,” said Ms Howes.
“That friend was the first defendant, Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, and her daughter was Isabella Wheildon.”
He said that the woman did not know Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell’s current address but it was identified by police and officers arrived just after 1pm the same day and found Isabella Wheildon dead.
Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell and Scott Jeff both deny Isabella Wheildon’s murder between 26 and 30 June last year.
Scott Jeff denies one count of causing or allowing the death of a child and two counts of child cruelty.
Ms Howes told jurors that Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell had admitted to causing or allowing the death of a child and two counts of child cruelty.
She said that a post-mortem examination of Isabella identified “extensive external traumatic injuries to the soft tissues of the body including head, neck, torso, limbs” and other areas.
Ms Howes said Isabella Wheildon sustained fractures to both wrists and a “complex pelvic fracture involving several bones”.
She said that her cause of death was given as “bone marrow embolism caused by skeletal trauma”.
The barrister said the damage caused to Isabella Wheildon’s pelvis was described as “severe” with the “likely cause… either kicking or stamping or both”.
“It’s the prosecution case that Isabella Wheildon was a healthy, contented, well-cared for little girl until Scott Jeff came into her young life,” said Ms Howes.
“She was two years and nine months old at the time of her death.
“Towards the end of May 2023, he entered a relationship with Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell.
“From that time up to her death, Isabella Wheildon was subjected to a regime of escalating brutality which was callous, cruel and ultimately fatal.”
She said that Isabella’s “own mother Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell stood back, watched, did nothing and allowed this to happen”.
Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell’s family home was in the Biggleswade area of Bedfordshire, Ms Howes said, and Jeff’s last known address was his parents’ address in the same area.
But they left the area together, staying at hotels in Great Yarmouth, a caravan park and “camping in a very small tent on Caister beach” in Norfolk before they ended up in Ipswich.
Ms Howes said Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell had earlier been in contact with housing services at Great Yarmouth Borough Council.
Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell claimed the three were homeless and escaping domestic abuse, and that Scott Jeff was her daughter’s father, said Ms Howes.
The council determined Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell was the responsibility of authorities in Bedfordshire, but later offered her “a place for her and Isabella but that wasn’t acceptable to her as she wanted to remain with Scott Jeff”, Ms Howes said.
Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell and Scott Jeff were arrested in Bury St Edmunds in the early hours of 1 July last year after they were seen by police.
In a statement to police, Scott Jeff said he “didn’t assault or commit any unlawful act in relation to Isabella at any time”.
He said he had “started to notice bruising on her face” and “raised concerns with my partner who suggested those marks were nothing to worry about”.
Ms Howes said Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell told police “she didn’t kill her daughter and she thinks it’s the harm Scott Jeff did to her that killed her”.
She said the “violence started when there were problems with potty training”, adding: “If Isabella Wheildon said she was a mummy’s girl Scott would hit her.”
“She said she had no injuries before going away with Scott Jeff,” said Ms Howes. “She admitted she should have got help.”
The trial, to last between six and eight weeks, continues.
It has not been established if there was child sexual abuse involved, previous to the murder of Isabella Wheildon.
UPDATE 251124
Scott Jeff was convicted of killing Isabella Wheildon after a seven-week trial at Ipswich Crown Court.
A man has been found guilty of murdering a two-year-old girl who was found dead in a locked bathroom at a temporary housing unit.
Isabella Wheildon’s body was found in a pushchair at the address in Sidegate Lane, Ipswich, on June 30 last year, though it is believed she died four days earlier and her mother and then-partner had continued to wheel her body around in a buggy.
Scott Jeff, 24, of no fixed address, denied her murder but was found guilty after a seven-week trial at Ipswich Crown Court, Suffolk Police said.
Isabella’s mother Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, who had been in a relationship with Jeff, was cleared of murder, the force said.
Former nursery worker Gleason-Mitchell, also aged 24 and of no fixed address, previously pleaded guilty to causing or allowing the death of a child and two counts of child cruelty.
Jeff, who is not the girl’s father, denied two counts of child cruelty but was found guilty, police said.
Prosecutor Sally Howes KC told jurors that Isabella was a “healthy, contented, well-cared for little girl until Scott Jeff came into her young life”.
“Towards the end of May 2023, he entered a relationship with Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell,” said Ms Howes, as she opened the prosecution case last month.
“From that time up to her death, Isabella was subjected to a regime of escalating brutality which was callous, cruel and ultimately fatal.”
She said Isabella’s “own mother Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell stood back, watched, did nothing and allowed this to happen”.
Suffolk Police said it was believed that Isabella died on June 26.
The force said that the following day the couple were seen on CCTV on a trip to the shops which “shows them joking, apparently unaffected by what had just taken place”.
“Over the course of the next three days they proceeded to carry on as ‘normal’, pushing Isabella’s body around in a buggy,” police said.
“This included getting the bus into town to go shopping and going to the pub.”
The force said it is believed the couple, who were not at the flat when police found Isabella, saw officers and left.
They were found and arrested in Bury St Edmunds in the early hours of July 1, having earlier spent several hours in a pub until closing time.
Barrister Ms Howes said a post-mortem examination identified “extensive external traumatic injuries to the soft tissues of the body including head, neck, torso, limbs” and other areas.
Ms Howes said Isabella sustained fractures to both wrists and a “complex pelvic fracture involving several bones”.
She said the toddler’s cause of death was given as “bone marrow embolism caused by skeletal trauma”.
The pair are due to be sentenced on December 13.
UPDATE 14.21.24
A violent sexual abuser has been jailed for at least 26 years for kicking a two-year-old girl to death, as the toddler’s mother was sentenced to 10 years.
The body of little Isabella Wheildon – described by her father as “perfect in every way” – was found in a pushchair at a temporary housing unit in Sidegate Lane, Ipswich, on 30 June 2023.
It is believed she died four days earlier and her mother and then-partner had continued to wheel her body around in a buggy – even going for a drinking session at the pub on the night they were arrested.
Paedophile child killer Scott Jeff, 24, of no fixed address had denied her murder but was found guilty after a seven-week trial at Ipswich Crown Court.
Scott Jeff, who jurors heard was regularly hitting, beating and abusing Isabella behind closed doors, was also found guilty of two counts of child cruelty.
On Friday, he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 26 years, while Isabella’s mother, former nursery worker Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The judge said Scott Jeff took over potty training of Isabella who would sometimes wet herself and Jeff “couldn’t tolerate such accidents and began punishing her when they occurred”.
He said her injuries were concealed with a puffer jacket and sunglasses, with her arms fractured and her pelvis later “in effect shattered” which it is believed may have been sexually motivated.
Gleason-Mitchell, 24, from Bedfordshire, in a disgusting display of indifference by the UK justice system over the suffering and death of Isabella Wheildon, was cleared of murder but had already pleaded guilty to causing or allowing the death of a child and two counts of child cruelty. [Editor’s note: Remember to get done for causing the death of a child not murdering them…WTF!]
During the trial, Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell told the court she was prepared to sacrifice the two-year-old to save her relationship with her partner.
Sentencing, the judge Mr Justice Neil Garnham said Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell had been so concerned at saving her relationship with Jeff that she tolerated the abuse.
“You stood by and let that violence and abuse happen to your little girl,” he said.
“You are an inarticulate, immature and frankly very weak individual and in Scott Jeff’s company you were easily bullied and manipulated.
“You were so pathetically desperate to be with Scott Jeff that you allowed every maternal instinct to be subverted by Scott Jeff.
He added: “Isabella’s killing has had a devastating effect on her family. Their lives will be permanently disfigured.”
Suffolk Police said that the day after Isabella died, the couple were seen on CCTV on a trip to the shops which “shows them joking, apparently unaffected by what had just taken place”.
“Over the course of the next three days they proceeded to carry on as ‘normal’, pushing Isabella’s body around in a buggy,” police said.
“This included getting the bus into town to go shopping and going to the pub.”
Isabella suffered a catalogue of horrific injuries before her death, with prosecutor Sally Howes KC telling jurors during the trial that the toddler’s likely cause of death was “either kicking or stamping”.
Sasha Wass KC, for Gleason-Mitchell, said the defendant was “possibly not the most intelligent young lady” and a friend described her as “easily manipulated”.
She said Gleason-Mitchell “failed to protect her daughter”.
Christopher Paxton KC, for Scott Jeff, went into a soliloquy of lies claiming the defendant’s “intention was to cause serious bodily harm” rather than to kill.
“There was a lack of pre-meditation,” he said, adding that Jeff was of previous good character and aged 22 at the time.
In a victim impact statement read by the prosecutor, Thomas Wheildon described his daughter Isabella as an “extension of me” adding: “I miss her every single day.”
He said she was “perfect in every way” and “loved going to visit farms and the zoo”.
Mr Wheildon said there was “something wonderful about seeing life in your child’s eyes, it’s exhilarating”.
“That light inside of me when I’m around Isabella is now gone forever,” he said.
Isabella’s paternal grandmother Michelle Wheildon said it “haunts me to think what was being done to her and how terrified she must have been”.
Her maternal grandmother Ann Mitchell, mother of Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, wept and said that “a large piece of me and my family has been taken”.
She said that “just to spend time with her” she goes to the crematorium with Isabella’s favourite crisps Wotsits, and Fruit Shoots, and “sits talking to her”.
Isabella’s aunt Jade Anglum said she was the “shining light of all of our lives”.
After the two defendants were led to the cells the judge praised the families for their dignified conduct through the trial.
Social services in Bedfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk have all confirmed that Isabella was known to them before her death, and a review is being carried out to identify any failings.
A statement on behalf of Central Bedfordshire, Suffolk, and Norfolk Safeguarding Children Partnerships said that Isabella’s family would be given a chance to contribute to the review now that the criminal proceedings had ended.
“This work is now being prioritised and will be completed as quickly as possible but at a pace the family are comfortable with.
“When the report is finalised, it will be published. However, to avoid delay in implementing learning, the draft recommendations have been shared with all the agencies involved.”
The draft report has also been sent to the national group overseeing all safeguarding children’s partnerships.
The spokesman added: “Again, all the safeguarding partnerships send our condolences to Isabella’s family and our thoughts are with all those who knew and loved her at this extremely difficult time.”
If you or anyone you know have been affected by the people highlighted in this article, then please report those individuals to the Police on 101 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report at Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.