Man guilty of murdering toddler found in bathroom

A man has been found guilty of murdering a toddler whose body was left in a locked bathroom.

Scott Jeff, 24, had been in the life of Isabella Jonas-Wheildon for just 36 days before her body was found on 30 June last year.

The court heard Jeff and Isabella's mother, Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, 24, had moved her body around in a pushchair at a temporary housing unit in Sidegate Lane, Ipswich.

Jeff was found guilty of murder, while Gleason-Mitchell was found not guilty of murder, but she admitted causing or allowing the death of a child.

Jeff and Gleason-Mitchell, previously from Bedfordshire, denied murder and were standing trial.

The pair had arrived at the temporary housing in Ipswich on 19 June, 11 days before Isabella's body was found.

Ipswich Crown Court heard Gleason-Mitchell had told a friend that her daughter was dead, and that she had been in her pushchair for three days and was "going to start to smell".

Gleason-Mitchell, of no fixed address, also previously admitted cruelty to a child in relation to cocaine, and cruelty to a child in relation to cannabis.

Jeff, also of no fixed address, was also found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child, cruelty to a child in relation to cocaine, and cruelty to a child in relation to cannabis.

Prior to living in Ipswich, the trial heard the couple had left the Biggleswade area of Bedfordshire at the start of June 2023 and had lived in hotels in Norfolk, and in a tent on the beach in Caister, in order to get away from Isabella's father Thomas Wheildon.

Isabella's body was found under a pile of blankets with "traumatic injuries" by a police officer.

The trial, which began on 8 October, heard from expert witnesses that she had suffered "crash-like" injuries including broken and shattered bones.

Gleason-Mitchell and Jeff were arrested a day after the discovery of Isabella's body, and the court heard the pair were picked up by police having had a night out at the Corn Exchange pub in Bury St Edmunds.

Members of Isabella's family sobbed in the public gallery as they learned of what happened to her in that time.

Sentencing is due on 13 December.

The judge Mr Justice Neil Garnham addressed Jeff and said: “I am obliged by law to impose a life sentence on you; I will have to fix a minimum term for you to serve."

Det Ch Insp Craig Powell from Suffolk Police said Isabella's family had remained "dignified and brave".

"This poor family have had to endure not only the loss of their precious Isabella, but have then been subjected to hearing the most harrowing details of the final few weeks of her life," he said.

"These details included the suffering delivered by Scott Jeff whilst her mother Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell stood close by and did nothing to intervene, despite having so much opportunity to have done something to stop it."