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

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

12.15pm

The judge and jury have now returned to the court room and Ashurst will continue to give evidence.

Overnight from February 27 to 28, Leanne slept in the spare room because she and Ashurst had argued. He doesn't remember what it was about.

The next morning, Leanne got Hollie up. He says he felt "fresh" and had no effects from the cocaine. He drove Leanne to work and says there "wasn't a lot of conversation" between them.

He says Hollie was very upset that morning, describing her as "hysterical" but he doesn't know why. Leanne managed to calm her down.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

12.25pm

He says Hollie was fine by the time they dropped Leanne off at work. Her first day had been a trial so this was her first proper day at work, he says. Ashurst says they had made up by the time she got out of the car and he wished her good luck.

Then he and Hollie went to Asda. Hollie was in the car seat. Ms Grahame is asking Ashurst to describe the car seat. He says it was for babies weighing between nine and 15kgs and explains where various straps went. Ms Grahame was going to show the jury a photograph of the seat but there are problems with the technology at the moment. They're looking at a different picture instead and discussing where the straps went.

They'd been using the car seat from mid January and had no problems with it. Hollie was a bit small for it, but they'd given the previous car seat to Leanne's brother when he had a baby.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

12.35pm

Ashurst went to Asda with Hollie. He said she looked "absolutely beautiful" so decided to get pictures taken of her at Max Spielmann. They had a special offer on.

The jury is now leaving for a few minutes while efforts are made to address the problems with technology.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

12.50pm

The trial now resumes and the jury is being shown CCTV footage of Ashurst and Hollie at Asda in Wigan on Thursday, February 28. He is carrying Hollie in his arms. He explains he is removing her bib and tidying her hair for the photographs.

The second clip shows him waiting while Hollie has the pictures taken. Hollie can't be seen, but he explains he's "pulling faces and trying to make her smile and laugh".

He said Leanne thought he had too many pictures of Hollie, but she was always changing. "There were times when I thought she looked absolutely beautiful," he said. He took every opportunity to take pictures of her.

They had to wait for the pictures to be printed so he took Hollie to the cafe for breakfast. He ordered toast for her and cut it up, but she wasn't too keen on it.

He put Hollie in the car seat in the car and his shopping on the front seat. He'd only bought a few things. He opened some chocolate eggs and they ate them in the car, before he drove home.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

1pm When he got home, he and Leanne were sending text messages. Then he left home and went to see Sarah Jolley about a diet plan.

The trial will now take a break for lunch and resume at 2pm.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

2.05pm

The judge and jury have returned from lunch and Ashurst will continue to give evidence. He and Hollie went home and he put her in the cot while he did a few jobs around the house, including tidying up and putting the pictures from Asda in frames.

He went to see her in the cot and got her out to change her nappy. He put her on the bed in the bedroom and then had to go to the ensuite bathroom to get something. "When I came back she had fell off the bed onto the floor. It didn't concern me, it didn't look like she had hurt herself." He said there was "blood saliva" running from her mouth.

He wasn't particularly concerned. He sent Snapchat pictures of Hollie to Leanne.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

2.10pm

Ashurst is explaining he knew Sarah Jolley from a gym he used to go to. He stopped training in 2016 or 2017.

She recently had a baby and he saw her adverts on Facebook for nutrition plans and personal training. He got in touch for a diet plan as he wanted to lose weight. "I was getting sick of drinking and eating rubbish and I wanted to get back into the gym."

He went to see her on February 28 to pay £50 for the plan. He stopped at Co-op on the way to get money from the cash machine.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

2.15pm

He arrived at Sarah Jolley's home and left Hollie in the car with the engine running. He went in the porch and explained he had got the nutrition plan but didn't like some foods on it, so she said he could swap them for other things. She commented on his holiday.

Sarah Jolley has already given evidence and said she thought Ashurst seemed "tense". He says that could be because of his anxiety or because Hollie was in the car.

He left and went to his mum's house but she wasn't in, so he drove home.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

2.20pm

Nina Grahame QC, defending, is going through text messages between Ashurst and Leanne. They're talking about money and he asks what she wants for tea. He was doing jobs around the house while texting her. He had been playing with Hollie in the living room, then took her in the kitchen for lunch to try to give her some food. "She wasn't interested in it whatsoever," he said. He wasn't concerned though. He was going to take Hollie to his mum's house that afternoon and thought she would feed her too. Hollie did eat some chocolate buttons though.

He thought Hollie was tired so put her in her cot to see if she would sleep. She didn't though, so he got her out and put her on the floor near her toy box so she could play. She wasn't interested though and was following him around as he did jobs. He went downstairs to do jobs there too and went outside to the bin.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

2.25pm

Ashurst went back inside from the bin and heard Hollie. "It was like a crying sound, like a whingeing sound," he said. He slid his trainers off and ran upstairs. Hollie was on a step and lying face down. "She was lying on her belly with her legs closest to me," he said.


"When I got to her she was shaking from head to toe. Her full body was shaking from head to toe," he said.

He picked her up and says she was still shaking. He was trying to get her attention. "She wasn't even looking at me," he said. She had a graze on the right-hand side of her head.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

2.30pm

The jury heard earlier from a paramedic who said Ashurst told him Hollie had fallen down steps and crawled back up. Ashurst says he finds it "hard to believe" he said that as Hollie could not crawl up steps. He was panicking and didn't know what had happened.

He was feeling "panicky" and thinks he was having a panic attack. He was trembling and having hot sweats and knew something wasn't right. He picked up Hollie and felt his pocket rip on something as he went down the stairs. He let go of Hollie.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

2.40pm

The shorts were only a few days old, he says. He thinks he caught them on a wooden plaque.

"It caused me to slip. Upon slipping, I lost grip of Hollie. I didn't see how she fell," he said. She fell towards the porch. Ashurst also fell. "I landed on my bum on the first step of the stairs at the bottom."

Hollie was face down. He picked her up, put his trainers on and rushed to the car,. He did not think about calling an ambulance, he thought the quickest thing to do was go to the car and drive to hospital. "I also heard when she fell like a gasp of air coming from her mouth."

Ashurst says he was shaking. His car keys were in his pocket and he put Hollie in the car seat.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

2.50pm

The court is being shown CCTV footage of Ashurst driving. He's intending to go to Wigan Infirmary with Hollie. The passenger-side window is open. He says there's a function on his key that opens all the windows and he must have pressed that in a panic. He thinks the rear window is open too. Hollie is in the back of the car.

Ashurst says as he was driving, he was "well shook up" and "really, really shaking". Hollie was moving in the seat and her condition was deteriorating. He says she had no support in her neck and she looked white. He was trying to get past other vehicles. He braked hard at traffic lights and says Hollie fell out of the car seat. She landed on the floor behind the passenger seat. He picked her up and put her on his knee. Ashurst decided to go to Standish Medical Centre instead of the hospital.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

2.55pm

The jury is now seeing CCTV footage outside Standish Medical Centre. Ashurst pulled up outside and ran in with Hollie in his arms. He ran in and asked for help. A doctor came to help Hollie.

"I was pacing up and down, I had my head in my hands. I didn't know what was going on. I couldn't understand what was up with her at all," he said. Ashurst said he felt "helpless".

He was asked to sit on a chair in an ambulance and says he ripped his shorts. He went back inside though. He remembers seeing people doing compressions on Hollie.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

3.05pm

Ms Grahame is asking about the injuries Hollie had. He says he didn't know the extent of her injuries when she was at the GP surgery.

He says it was "chaos" at the surgery - doors were locked, it may have been the lunch break, they couldn't get the equipment that was needed, it was a struggle to get a doctor.

He had gone out without his phone. He tried to ring Leanne but there was no answer. He tried to call his mum to ask her to go to the hair salon, then he borrowed a paramedic's phone to Google the salon's phone number.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

3.10pm

He got to Wigan Infirmary, where 20 to 25 people were around Hollie. He says he couldn't sit down as he was "too worked up". He was "earwigging" on what people were saying about Hollie.

Leanne arrived and they were both taken to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital by a police officer. Hollie was transferred there for treatment.

At Wigan they had been told Hollie had a fractured skull. It's later established that wasn't the case.

Leanne and Ashurst waited in a family room with a police officer for more than four hours. He says they weren't given updates on Hollie. He was later arrested. He didn't know at that stage what Hollie's injuries were.

He doesn't remember if he told anyone about Hollie falling down the stairs when he was carrying her.

"I have to live with that that she dropped out of my hands," he said.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

3.15pm

Ashurst was arrested on suspicion of section 18 assault. He had never been arrested before or to a police station. He was asked if he wanted legal advice and said in his eyes he hadn't done anything wrong.

"People who knew me knew how much I loved her. I spent every day with her," he says.

He continued: "I used to love spending time with her. To be told or suggested that I had done something to hurt her was really, really nasty and bad."

He remembers being told Hollie had died. He was walking behind a woman who suddenly turned round and told him. "She said Hollie's died, just like that."

He replied "no comment" to police in interviews. He says this was on legal advice.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

3.20pm

Ashurst says he was feeling terrible at this time and his anxiety was "through the roof".

He doesn't know how Hollie's ankle was fractured. He says she grazed her head in the first fall. He doesn't remember seeing marks on her fingers and doesn't know how they were caused.

He picked Hollie up "tightly" after the first fall and he was shaking.

He didn't stop the car or pull over when Hollie fell from her car seat, he just reached through and pulled her between the seats. He didn't know if she was injured from what happened in the car.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

3.40pm

The judge and jury have returned. Ms Grahame now has hard copies of a picture of the car seat, after problems with technology this morning meant she couldn't show it to them then. It's a picture taken by the police of the seat in Ashurst's car, taken after he was arrested.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand

 

[HayLouise]

Day 8:

3.45pm

Ms Grahame has now finished her questions. Prosecutor Guy Gozem QC is on his feet for cross-examination. He clarifies some things about the car seat before turning to his questions. He says he'll start today but cross-examination will continue tomorrow.

Mr Gozem asks Ashurst about taking cocaine the night before he was looking after Hollie. Ashurst says it's not something he was proud of doing, but he went to bed to make sure he was "fresh" the next day to look after Hollie.

He took cocaine between 9.30pm and 10pm and says he's "100 per cent certain" it wasn't on Thursday, February 28. "I'm not the kind of person who would wake up in a morning and take cocaine and certainly not when I am spending the day with my daughter."

Mr Gozem now asks about Ashurst going to see Sarah Jolley. Ashurst says he was polite and there was no disagreement.

He regrets taking cocaine the night before caring for Hollie.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as accused father takes to the witness stand