With a shaking voice, Kathryn Smith tells an emergency services operator that her 21-month-old daughter “has gone”, moments after delivering a fatal blow.
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Ayeeshia’s mother, Kathryn, 23, was convicted on Friday of stamping her daughter to death at their home in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, in May 2014.
Cannabis was a prominent feature in AJ’s life with both Rigby and Smith smoking it and also storing the drug in the child’s Tommee Tippee plastic cup.
When the not guilty verdict to murder was read out, Rigby nodded to the jury and mouthed the words “thank you”.
Her 22-year-old ex-boyfriend Matthew Rigby was cleared of murder but convicted of causing or allowing the child’s death.
Jurors heard how Smith had a history of troubled relationships with different men.
She was reportedly heard saying “stop mummy, stop daddy” days before her death.
AJ could have been taken into care and into safety but instead a domestic abuse support worker was provided.
The parents are not the only ones under fire – doctors and social workers are as well.
“There is a review by the Derbyshire children’s safeguarding board”.
Paramedics who arrived quickly on the scene described the child as already looking “blue” and cold to the touch, but both Smith and Rigby denied ringing 999.
A detailed post-mortem examination revealed the toddler had suffered an historic bleed on the brain linked to the previous collapse in February 2014.
After he finished gardening, he said he heard the child cry, so the couple went to her bedroom where the girl was lying apparently lifeless in her cot.
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Judge Mrs Justice Geraldine Andrews said she would sentence Smith and Rigby on Monday. No child should suffer at the hands of those who should be caring for her; no child should be the victim of broken bones or serious injury caused by violent assault by those caring for her. That is precisely what happened to AJ in the 8 months or so leading up to her death.
