Mum said child had bruises and ‘we will get done’

A former nursery worker accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter told a friend she could not call police as the child’s body had bruises and “we will get done for it”, a court heard.

Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell and her then boyfriend Scott Jeff, both aged 24 and of no fixed address, both deny murdering her daughter Isabella Wheildon between 26 and 30 June 2023.

Police found the toddler dead in a locked bathroom at a temporary housing unit in Sidegate Lane, Ipswich, on 30 June 2023.

Giving evidence at Ipswich Crown Court on Wednesday, Gleason-Mitchell’s friend, Joanne Gardner, described her as a “really nice girl, down to earth”.

She said they met at temporary accommodation at Sandy, in Bedfordshire, when Miss Gardner arrived there in July 2021.

Miss Gardner said Gleason-Mitchell was in a relationship with Isabella’s father at the time.

“I couldn’t fault them – they were brilliant parents, they loved her to bits,” Miss Gardner said.

She said Gleason-Mitchell messaged her in May 2023 to say she and Thomas Wheildon were no longer together and had later asked for £60 as she and her daughter had nowhere to stay.

Gleason-Mitchell, whose family home was in the Biggleswade area of Bedfordshire, said in a message she was in Great Yarmouth trying to find somewhere to live, but the council told her she was safe to return to Bedfordshire.

Jurors heard in a subsequent conversation between the pair, Gleason-Mitchell “told me that Isabella was dead”.

In a message read to the court, Gleason-Mitchell said: “We can’t call police as she developed bruises, and we will get done for it.”

Miss Gardner said Gleason-Mitchell “was trying to tell me Thomas was not Isabella’s dad – it was Scott, the new boyfriend I didn’t know”.

Gleason-Mitchell sent a series of voice notes, with one saying: “We literally can’t go to the police because she’s covered in bruises.”

In a further message, Gleason-Mitchell told Miss Gardner: “I feel like we’re just going to bury her and hope for the best.”

Miss Gardner said Gleason-Mitchell asked her to delete the messages and gave the “impression the police were there”.

Miss Gardner called social services at around 10:50 BST on 30 June last year and then dialled 999 at 11:07 the same day to report her concerns, jurors heard in an agreed fact.

Alex Kettle-Williams, prosecuting, said police attended the temporary housing unit at 13:07.

She said Miss Gardner had reported to police that Gleason-Mitchell had “told her that her daughter had died three days ago and was still in her pushchair”.

On visiting, the police found the flat empty and the bathroom door locked, and an officer then noted a “strong stale smell and a pushchair with several blankets over it pushed into the shower”.

“When he removed the last blanket, he saw the face of a young child,” she said.

Jeff denies one count of causing or allowing the death of a child and two counts of child cruelty.

Jurors were previously told Gleason-Mitchell had admitted to causing or allowing the death of a child and two counts of child cruelty.

Sasha Wass KC, for Gleason-Mitchell, asked Miss Gardner if Gleason-Mitchell was “somebody who could be bullied”, and she replied “yes”.

Christopher Paxton KC, for Jeff, asked Miss Gardner: “If you don’t know Scott Jeff, you don’t know anything about his character, do you?”

She replied: “No, I don’t.”

The trial continues.