Man who murdered partner’s two-year-old daughter and took her body to pub and shops jailed
A man who killed his partner’s two-year-old daughter and took her body in a buggy to the pub and shops has been jailed for life.
Warning: This article contains details readers may find distressing
Scott Jeff, 24, was found guilty last month of Isabella Wheildon’s murder as well as two counts of child cruelty after an eight-week trial at Ipswich Crown Court. He will serve a minimum of 26 years in jail.
Judge Mr Justice Neil Garnham said he subjected Isabella to a “cruel campaign of violence and abuse which ended in her death on 26 June” last year.
Jeff, who was not the toddler’s father, had been in a relationship with her mother, former nursery worker Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, also 24.
Gleason-Mitchell was cleared of murder but pleaded guilty to causing or allowing the death of a child and two counts of child cruelty. She has been jailed for 10 years.
The judge described her as a “weak and spineless person” who “stood back and let that abuse and violence happen to your little girl”.
He said she was “so concerned about her own comfort and pleasures, and about maintaining a relationship with this man, that you would tolerate anything, including these dreadful assaults on your daughter”.
Isabella was found in a buggy in a locked bathroom at a temporary housing unit in Ipswich in June last year.
The court heard Isabella had injuries to her head, neck, torso and limbs after suffering “escalating brutality” at the hands of Jeff and Gleason-Mitchell.
Prosecutors said Isabella died from “bone marrow embolism caused by skeletal trauma”, and had fractures to both wrists and a “complex pelvic fracture involving several bones”.
Traces of cocaine and cannabis were also found in the toddler’s system.
Sally Howes KC told jurors the toddler was a “healthy, contented, well-cared for little girl until Scott Jeff came into her young life” towards the end of May 2023.
Scott Jeff and Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell. Pic: Suffolk Police
From then, she suffered “escalating brutality which was callous, cruel and ultimately fatal”, at Jeff’s hands.
A post-mortem found Isabella had “extensive external traumatic injuries to the soft tissues of the body including head, neck, torso, limbs” and other areas, the barrister said, adding that her mother “did nothing and allowed this [the abuse] to happen”.
Jeff and Gleason-Mitchell, both of no fixed address but formerly from Bedfordshire, had been staying at the temporary accommodation for 11 days, when Isabella’s body was discovered on 30 June.
Prosecutors said she died on 26 June after having difficulty breathing. Jeff and Gleason-Mitchell claimed they attempted to perform CPR on her but she died at 11.37pm.
CCTV footage showed the couple went out to the shops 30 minutes later and were shown joking, apparently unaffected by Isabella’s death.
Over the next three days, they pushed the toddler’s body around in a buggy, even taking the bus into town to go shopping and going to the pub.
The pair were arrested in the early hours of 1 July in Bury St Edmunds, having fled Ipswich after police had found Isabella’s body.
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An amber warning has been issued for snow in a part of the UK, likely to cause travel delays and “stranding some vehicles and passengers”.
The warning, which covers south west England, also warns some rural communities could become cut off and is in place until 2pm this evening.
Pic: Met Office
There is also a yellow weather warning for snow covering the southern counties of England until midnight on Wednesday.
The warning stretches from Kent to Cornwall and up to south London and the Met Office said between 2cm and 5cm of snow could accumulate fairly widely, with as much as 10cm over higher ground.
This week is expected to see the coldest nights of the year, with temperatures potentially reaching -14C on Wednesday night and -16C on Thursday night, both in the North East of England and Scotland, the Met Office said.
Weather warnings issued on Tuesday for snow and ice covering the parts of Wales, the North West of England, west and northern parts of Scotland as well as Northern Ireland will remain in place until midnight tomorrow.
The forecaster said some roads and railways are likely to be affected and there could be icy patches on untreated roads.
Pics: AP
Meanwhile the Environment Agency has said at least 300 properties have flooded across England since New Year’s Eve. It estimates more than 41,000 properties have been protected.
Heavy rainfall over the New Year caused significant river and surface water flooding across the North West of England and Yorkshire and snowmelt has brought further disruption to parts of England, particularly the Midlands, the agency said.
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Man says flooding ‘came out of nowhere’
Floods minister Emma Hardy said: “My sympathies go out to the people, businesses and communities impacted by the recent flooding across the country.
“I want to express my heartfelt thanks for the vital work that the Environment Agency and emergency services are doing to keep people safe. People must continue to follow their advice and sign up for flood warnings.”
Flood warnings
Some 100 flood warnings were in force across England on Wednesday, with people urged to remain vigilant over the coming days.
A danger-to-life warning was issued on Tuesday morning for the River Soar near Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire, but was later removed.
People living in caravan parks in the area were urged by the Environment Agency to act, with a large-scale evacuation needed to save lives.
Firefighters have rescued dozens of people across Leicestershire since Monday, Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service said.
Hundreds of schools were closed across the UK, with road and rail links blocked, as Manchester, Bristol and Liverpool John Lennon airports suspended flights because of the conditions.
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