Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell: Body of two-year-old Isabella Wheildon pushed around in pram for days by mum

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT

The body of a toddler who died after being subjected to “a regime of escalating brutality” was wheeled around in a pushchair for three days by her mother and her partner, a court heard on Tuesday.

Scott Jeff, 24, is alleged to have repeatedly beaten two-year-old Isabella Wheildon, leaving her with multiple fractures and injuries, as well as giving her cold showers as a punishment.

Jurors were told her mother, nursery nurse Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, also 24, “stood back, watched and did nothing” as Jeff carried out his “cruel and ultimately fatal” assaults.

Isabella was believed to have died on June 26 last year while staying with her mother and Jeff at a temporary accommodation unit.

But the couple is said to have kept her death a secret, pushing her around in her chair with the hood pulled up to shield her face and allegedly taking her body on a shopping trip to buy computer gaming equipment.

Isabella was said to have been dead for several days before police found her body under blankets in a shower at the East Villa homeless unit in Ipswich.

Prosecutor Sally Howes KC said CCTV footage of Isabella being wheeled around after June 26 had been taken following her death.

Miss Howes said the couple had taken Isabella’s body to a nearby service station to buy lemonade shortly after midnight on the night of June 26.

It is alleged that CCTV at the unit showed Jeff putting the toddler’s body in her chair with Gleason-Mitchell “smiling at his side” as they headed out to a nearby pub on June 28.

The next day, it is alleged they took her to Ipswich town centre on a bus, visiting Cash Converters and Cash Exchange shops, where they bought X-Box equipment and chargers.

Miss Howes added: “They put their purchases in a plastic bag which they put in the pushchair on top of Isabella.”

Her body was found on June 30 after a friend of Gleason-Mitchell reported getting a message from her, saying her daughter had “died in her sleep” three days earlier and was in her pushchair in a bathroom.

The friend, Jo Gardiner, had urged her to go to the police, but Ipswich Crown Court heard that Gleason-Mitchell said Isabella was “covered in bruises” and they’d get into trouble.

She said they planned to bury her and ‘hope for the best nobody would find her’. The couple told other residents of the unit that they had left her body in the bathroom when they were out shopping once again.

They then caught a train to Bury St Edmunds where they went to a JD Wetherspoon pub.

Police attended the unit operated by Ipswich Borough Council, where Isabella was declared dead by a paramedic, said Miss Howes.

A post-mortem examination showed soft tissue injuries to her head, neck, torso, limbs and back.

She also had fractures to both wrists and a pelvic fracture likely to have been caused by “kicking or stamping”.

Some injuries had allegedly occurred two weeks before her death and others as little as six hours before she died.

Miss Howes said it was clear Isabella had “a number of episodes of violence inflicted on her”.

The cause of death was given as an embolism due to bone marrow from her fractures getting into her bloodstream.

She said Isabella was “a healthy, contented and well-developed little girl” before Jeff came into her life in May 2023, adding: “From that time, Isabella was subject to a regime of brutality which was callous, cruel and ultimately fatal.”

Gleason-Mitchell and Jeff both deny murder. Gleason-Mitchell has admitted to causing or allowing the death of a child and two counts of child cruelty.

The trial continues.

If you or someone you know is experiencing family violence, phone 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Crisis Care Helpline on 1800 199 008.

Lifeline: 13 11 14.

If you or someone you know needs help, phone SANE Australia Helpline on 1800 18 SANE (7263).

Young people seeking support can phone beyondblue on 1300 22 4636 or go to headspace.org.au.