GUILTY UK - Hollie Ashurst, 14 months, murdered, Wigan, 3 Jan 2019 *father arrested*

[Ann Blyth]

Horrible case that is currently in day two of the trial against her father, poor little sweetheart, father is currently facing murder...

Wigan dad of tot Hollie Ashurst is charged with her murder

Dad charged with murdering baby posted about 'daddy day care' 48 hours earlier

Hollie Ashurst: Bid to change date of baby murder trial

Hollie Ashurst: Four-month delay to dad’s murder trial

Baby girl, aged 14 months, died after being brutally shaken by her father | Daily Mail Online

[URL="https://metro.co.uk/2020/02/04/dad-accused-murdering-baby-inflicting-catalogue-injuries-12178039/"]Dad accused of murdering baby after inflicting 'catalogue of injuries' | Metro News[/URL]

[URL="https://www.wigantoday.net/news/crime/baby-hollie-ashurst-murder-trial-live-updates-from-the-second-day-of-proceedings-1-10236885"]Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: live updates from the second day of proceedings
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[Ann Blyth]

More grim reading, there actually isn’t much in the press at all...

Dad accused of murdering 14-month-old daughter who died from horror injuries

 

[HayLouise]

Good morning, I'm at Manchester Crown Square today for the third day of Daniel Ashurst's murder trial. The 33-year-old is accused of murdering his 14-month-old daughter Hollie last March. Follow our live blog from inside the courtroom:

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates from the third day of proceedings

Liam Soutar on Twitter

 

[HayLouise]

Day one:

2.40pm Jury returns

The judge and jury have returned to court and Ashurst is in the dock. Prosecutor Guy Gozem QC will open the case.

He says Hollie was born on Christmas Eve 2017 and was the defendant's daughter. They lived on Fleming Court, Shevington, with her mother Leanne. Hollie died on March 1, 2019. She had a cardiac arrest. He says the medical evidence will show her heart stopped beating because of the effect on her brain of numerous injuries.

Mr Gozem says these injuries were "deliberately inflicted on her by her father".

He says Ashurst's case is expected to be that he did not inflict any of the injuries that Hollie suffered, but they were the result of an accident or series of accidents on the same day.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE UPDATES as court proceedings begin

 

[HayLouise]

Day one:

2:45pm Opening continues

February 28, 2019 looked like a "perfectly normal day", Mr Gozem said. But Ashurst and his partner Leanne had argued the night before and she'd slept in the spare room.

It was Leanne's second day at work in a beauty salon in Ashton. Ashurst drove her to work that morning, with Hollie in the baby seat in the back of the car.

After dropping her off, Ashurst and Hollie went to Asda in Wigan at around 9.30am and had breakfast. There's a Max Spielman concession there and he decided to have some photographs taken of Hollie. She looked "perfectly healthy, happy and uninjured" while in the store.

Afterwards they went home. Later that morning, around 11.30am, Ashurst went out again to see a woman called Sarah Jolley, who had prepared a diet plan for him. He paid £50. He went home at around noon.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE UPDATES as court proceedings begin

 

[HayLouise]

Day one:

2.50pm

During the morning Leanne and Ashurst were in contact by phone, mostly messaging. Some of the messages are read in court, discussing bills and what they are doing that day.,

An hour later Ashurst's car leaves the house. He rushed to Standish Medical Practice and had Hollie's "limp body" in his arms. Staff rang 999 and got Dr Joanne Hall. She asked what had happened and Ashurst said Hollie had fallen down the stairs and he'd put her in the car to take her to hospital, but she stopped breathing so went to the surgery.

Dr Hall could not find a pulse. She tried mouth to mouth resuscitation and found Hollie's mouth was cold. She said she thought Hollie had gone.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE UPDATES as court proceedings begin

 

[HayLouise]

Day one:

3pm

Paramedic Adam Noble noticed blood coming from Hollie's nostrils. He was told she had fallen down two steps and cried. She became unresponsive in the car.

Another paramedic was told she had fallen down two steps, Ashurst thought she had bumped her head, she cried and crawled back up the steps. After asking further, he was told Hollie became limp and lethargic 10 minutes after the fall so he was taking her to hospital in the car, but didn't look well so he went to the surgery.

Paramedics took Hollie to Wigan Infirmary by ambulance.

The jury is now being shown a compilation of CCTV footage from the day. It starts with Ashurst's car leaving his home to go to Ashton and then shows him arriving at Asda with Hollie.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE UPDATES as court proceedings begin

 

[HayLouise]

Day one:

3.10pm

Hollie was taken to Wigan Infirmary. Ashurst was asked why the ended up at the surgery, Mr Gozem says, and he said Hollie had been fine for 10 minutes after the fall, but became completely unresponsive so her put her in the car.

Ashurst told police Hollie had been crawling on the landing while he was putting washing away and fell down stairs. She was crying and holding her breath and decided to take her to hospital. On the way she wasn't responsive so he took her to the medical centre, Ashurst said.

Prosecutor says Ashurst's accounts may seem "confused and inconsistent". Was he flustered by what had happened? He says Ashurst wasn't telling the whole truth.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE UPDATES as court proceedings begin

 

[HayLouise]

Day one:

3.15pm Medical evidence

Doctors found Hollie's condition was so serious that she needed specialised treatment, so she was taken to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. But they could not save her and she died the next day.

Post-mortem examinations were later carried out.

Mr Gozem said Hollie had a "diverse array of both internal and external injuries".

She had multiple areas of bruising and abrasions involving her head and neck, two potential human bite marks (one on left hand and one on left thigh), bruising to both sides of chest consistent with fingerprint bruises, fractured right ankle, bleeding in the eyes, bleed on the brain, bleeding along spinal cord and injury to neck spinal nerve.

There was some older cranial subdural bleeding which raised concern of more episodes of non-accidental injury in the last few weeks of her life, Mr Gozem says.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE UPDATES as court proceedings begin

 

[HayLouise]

Day one:

3.25pm Pathologist

Pathologist Dr Charles Wilson will give evidence tomorrow. Mr Gozem reads his conclusion which was that Hollie had been subject to "non-accidental injury involving excessive acceleration and deceleration of her head in relation to the rest of her body, with multiple impacts to her head and face."

There was evidence suggesting she had "sustained at least two separate episodes of previous head injury".

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE UPDATES as court proceedings begin

 

[HayLouise]

Day one:

3.25pm Arrest

Ashurst was arrested on February 28 on suspicion of inflicting serious harm on Hollie. This became murder when she died the next day. He was interviewed six times but said "no comment".

In a defence statement, Ashurst put forward his case about what happened to Hollie. He said:

1) Hollie fell off the bed, seemed fine but he wiped a speck of blood from her mouth.

2) He went to the bin outside, came back and found Hollie shaking "from head to toe" on the stair. She had a cut on her head and bloodstained saliva, was stunned and unresponsive.

3) He picked her up to hurry downstairs, but snagged his shorts on something, slipped and lost his grip on Hollie, who he next saw on the floor in the hallway.

4) Having put Hollie in her car seat, he braked hard at a red light and she fell from the seat onto the car floor.

5) He grabbed Hollie from the floor by her ankle, pulled her onto his lap and continued driving.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE UPDATES as court proceedings begin

 

[HayLouise]

Day one:

3.30pm Prosecution continues

Mr Gozem says this account is a "recent invention" and had not been mentioned to the medics.

The day before, Ashurst went to a mental health appointment at Clare House. He said his medication for anxiety and depression had been changed by his GP in the last two weeks. Police got his mental health records. One thing he said was he was concerned about looking after Hollie when Leanne went back to work.

The prosecutor is going through some text messages 10 days earlier between Ashurst and his partner Leanne. They're discussing money and she said he had spent £150 on drugs.

After his arrest, Ashurst's urine sample showed the presence of cocaine.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE UPDATES as court proceedings begin

 

[Ann Blyth]

Thanks @HayLouise, grim reading though

 

[HayLouise]

Day two:

11am First witness

Prosecutor Guy Gozem QC has called pathologist Dr Charles Wilson to the witness stand.

Hollie died just after 4.30pm on March 1. Dr Wilson made arrangements for a post-mortem examination to be carried out on March 4 at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. He looked at her GP records and found she was a "healthy child who had no major illnesses". He had access to various other forms of information too, such as a report from the ambulance service.

He started the post-mortem examination by looking at Hollie's body externally. She was a normal height and weight for child of her age, but she had number of injuries. Dr Wilson is detailing the injuries to Hollie's face and head now. He lists several abrasions and bruises and points to them on his own head and face.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: live updates from the second day of proceedings

 

[HayLouise]

Day two:

11.20am Injuries listed

Dr Wilson is continuing to explain what he found when he examined Hollie externally. He found lacerations on her fingers. He says a group of bruises on her hand were "entirely consistent with bite marks". Some of the bruises on her chest could have been caused by CPR.

Hollie had two crescent-shaped bruises on her left thigh which Dr Wilson says was "absolutely typical of a human bite mark".

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: live updates from the second day of proceedings

 

[HayLouise]

Day two:

11.35am Internal examination

A fellow pathologist found no signs of natural disease. But Dr Wilson said there were signs of "deep trauma" that weren't visible externally. He found extra bruising. This included on her back, neck and tongue.

Hollie had a bilateral subdural haemorrhage, which was slightly thicker on the right side. This can be a "marker of trauma".

There was also bleeding along the spinal cord and on the optic nerves of both eyes. A fracture was found in her right lower limb.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: live updates from the second day of proceedings

 

[HayLouise]

Day two:

11.45am Dr Wilson continues

Examination showed a number of the bruises were a day or so old. Dr Wilson is explaining which ones they were. There was some evidence of older trauma too, he says. Bruising on her left thigh was older than the majority on her face.

Hollie had early signs of pneumonia, but he says this is a common complication of children who are seriously injured and in critical care.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: live updates from the second day of proceedings

 

[HayLouise]

Day two:

11.55am Conclusion

Dr Wilson's conclusion was that Hollie died from head injuries. He says the pattern of her injuries was "highly specific for non-accidental paediatric head injury".

Hollie had a "triad" of injuries which Dr Wilson says can raise suspicion of inflicted head trauma. "There is no natural disease process that has been detected that causes all three components of the triad," he said.

He explains how what used to be called "shaken baby syndrome" has been a controversial part of medical literature for 20-30 years. One reason experts moved away from using the term is this triad can also be found from impact on a soft surface.

Hollie had a fractured ankle, which Dr Wilson says was caused by bending or possibly twisting the bone. "We sometimes see this when a child is gripped or swung by the ankle, but anything that causes twisting or bending of the ankle can cause fracturing of the type seen here," he said.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: live updates from the second day of proceedings

 

[HayLouise]

Day two:

12.30pm Judge and jury return

The case is now continuing with Dr Wilson still in the witness box. He's being questioned by Ms Grahame, who's defending Ashurst. She's clarifying some things about the triad that he spoke about.

Dr Wilson says there is corroborative evidence of inflicted trauma "in spades" in this case. It's not just the triad.

He can't say how old the bruises he thinks were a bite mark on a leg were.

Ms Grahame says Ashurst's account of how Hollie was injured that day could account for her injuries. Dr Wilson says the triad wouldn't be seen. He also disputes that the brain injury and ear injuries would be seen. Dr Wilson disagrees with Ms Grahame's suggestion that Hollie could have sustained the injuries to her ears in the two falls down the stairs that Ashurst says happened.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: live updates from the second day of proceedings

 

[HayLouise]

Day two:

1pm Cross-examination continues

Ms Grahame is now asking about the marks Dr Wilson says were possibly bite marks. They were on Hollie's hand and thigh. She reads an email from a professor to the police who said a photograph of a bruise on Hollie's leg was consistent with non-accidental injury and couldn't rule out biting, but it was very large for a bite mark. He suggested more photographs be taken and said many injuries with characteristics of bite marks were later found to have been caused by other means.

The trial has now stopped for lunch and will resume at 2.10pm.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: live updates from the second day of proceedings