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

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

10.40am Injuries

Dr Wilson and a pathologist for the defence agreed a list of Hollie's injuries. They noted the timing of them, with some "contemporaneous with collapse". This was the case for an injury on her left scalp, but there was also "evidence of previous bruising" there. A mark on her leg, thought to be a bite, was thought to have happened several days earlier.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

10.45am The triad

Hollie was found to have bilateral subdural haemorrhage - bleeding on the brain - as well as swelling of the brain, haemorrhages in both eyes and spinal injuries. Haemorrhages in the eyes, subdural haemorrhage and swelling of the brain are known as the "triad". The Royal College of Pathologists has warned this triad on its own doesn't prove inflicted injury, but it creates suspicion of inflicted injury, Mr Gozem says.

Hollie had other injuries, such as the suspected bite marks and bruising.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

10.50am

The pathologist said he could rule out that the account given by Ashurst would have caused Hollie's injuries, as the triad is not seen in falls of that nature.

He explained that in car crashes children could suffer head injuries, including subdural haemorrhages, but they would be unilateral (on one side) rather than bilateral (both sides). Bilateral bleeding is a response to shaking, Mr Gozem says.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

10.55am

Mr Gozem says there has been a "mass of medical evidence" in the case. He won't go through it all again now.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

11am Mental health


Mr Gozem says the jury has heard about Ashurst's mental health, with reports and letters from mental health professionals. They have also heard about his "substance abuse" - use of drugs and alcohol. He asks them to consider how he was on the day. What was his mood on that day? Was it affected by the rows about money?

"This is a man with a propensity to tell lies, or as he says to exaggerate, when he sees an advantage to be gained," Mr Gozem says.

Ashurst didn't explain why he didn't tell medics about the series of accidents he claimed Hollie had on February 28, Mr Gozem says.

"We say it's because he only came up with what you heard by way of defence months later, when he realised that the specialists had managed to uncover the extent and the nature of Hollie's injuries," says Mr Gozem.

He continues: "Is there any credible explanation for him withholding from them this series of accidents when they are battling to save his daughter's life?"

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

11.05am Break

Mr Gozem has now finished his speech. The jury has been sent out for a break before Nina Grahame QC, defending Ashurst, gives her closing speech.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

11.25am Judge and jury return

Everyone is back in court after a break, ready to hear the defence's speech.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

11.30am Closing speech

Nina Grahame QC, defending, says the jury must consider "relevant" evidence. It doesn't matter if they "disapprove" of someone taking cocaine or not having a baby gate, as they are not a proper basis on which to find a verdict, she says. It doesn't matter who pays for Ashurst's car, she also says.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

11.30am The triad

Ms Grahame urges the jury to bring "common sense" when considering the case. "I am going to ask you to bring that common sense to your consideration of the triad and what it means," she said. She says the Court of Appeal raised concerns about the reliance on the triad in proving non-accidental injuries in 2005. The jury has also heard about a meeting by the Royal College of Pathologists where there was no agreement on whether the triad is a reliable indicator or proof of non-accidental injury in young children and babies.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

11.35am Research about stair falls

Ms Grahame discusses information heard by the jury about research on stairway falls. She says there are problems with the research because they involve different circumstances, difference ages, different stairs and different people. There was some reliance on the accounts provided by carers.

She asked pathologist Dr Wilson how many of the cases in the research related to people who had more than one fall. He replied that he didn't know. She says there were none they could hear about that involved anything resembling what Ashurst says happened to Hollie.

Ms Grahame says studies involving single stairway falls are "not relevant".

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

11.40am Trauma

There is still debate about the triad. Ms Grahame tells the jury: "You need to take very great care indeed when you are considering what happened to Hollie on that day and the trauma that she did suffer, but of course trauma doesn't mean non-accidental trauma or deliberately inflicted trauma."

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

11.45am Bleeding on the brain

One part of the triad was the bleeding on Hollie's brain. There was evidence of a previous bleed. Ms Grahame says one doctor said if she banged her head, she may have cried but not showed any other sign of something being wrong. That can happen to children who are learning to walk.

Two doctors agreed it was unlikely, but couldn't rule out, that the previous, lesser bleed could have made Hollie more susceptible to future bleeding.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

11.45am Bleeding in eyes

Another part of the triad was bleeding in the eyes. The expert said this can be caused accidentally or non-accidentally, Ms Grahame says.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

11.50am Expert evidence

"Experts are not gods. They don't know everything. They get things wrong, of course they do, everyone can," says Ms Grahame. She reminds the jury of the judge's earlier warning to be careful when considering evidence from medical experts.

She questions experts starting with a theory, rather than a blank slate, and says this can "skew" what they find.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

11.55am Other injuries

Pathologist Dr Wilson told the jury there was evidence of non-accidental injury "in spades", Ms Grahame says.

He also said the spinal injuries were "far commoner" in non-accidental injury than accidental injury cases. She says Dr Du Plessis said this type of spinal injury was in 50 per cent of non-accidental injury cases. She questions whether Dr Wilson "overstated" this.

Referring to the bruises on Hollie, Ms Grahame says: "This is a toddler who was crawling, trying to stand, pulling things over." She points out Hollie's mother Leanne Thompson said she had bruises from crawling and moving around. The day before a three-year-old boy had been at the house and playing with Hollie.

"If some of the injuries are older, and it appears that some of the bruising was, we know that they weren't noticed, apart from the mark on the thigh, and therefore they did get missed by a parent, some of them at least. Maybe they are small, maybe they are in places it's not immediately apparent, but you have to remove some of those bruises from your consideration, I would suggest," says Ms Grahame.

She says some of the bruises were from Hollie's medical treatment. Ms Grahame is highlighting the size of some of the bruises, which she says are small.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

12.05pm

Ms Grahame says Hollie's injuries show she was a child who has fallen, not an abused child who was gripped forcefully and shaken.

She says there are around 10 marks shown on the front of Hollie body. She says only one or two may have not been caused by medical treatment. There are not as many suspicious marks on her body as has been suggested.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

12.10pm Alleged bite marks

Hollie had marks and bruising on two fingers. Ms Grahame says Hollie's fingers were "tiny" and only two fingers had marks on them. She said they had possibly come from "a very small mouth". Dr Wilson had not been able to date when these happened.

Dr Wilson said he referred to other experts when needed. He did not refer in evidence to an email, though not a formal report, from a specialist about the suspected bite marks. The specialist's email said it was impossible to rule out biting, but it was very large for a bite mark. He suggested more photographs were taken and UV photography be used to see more. He did not recommend taking impressions from anyone. He advised caution based on research that bite mark comparisons could be unreliable.

Leanne saw what she thought was a bite mark the day before. Ashurst said it wasn't a bite mark and she must have banged herself. Leanne accepted this, Ms Grahame says.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

12.20pm February 28

On February 28, Ashurst left the house with an injured Hollie without checking the house was secure. Police later found the back door was unlocked. He also left his mobile phone on the bed. "That shows you what a rush he was in," Ms Grahame says.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

12.25pm

Ashurst accepts he didn't tell anyone about the second fall or what happened in the car. He was seeking help after the first fall on the stairs, says Ms Grahame. He thought she had some sort of head injury in the fall.

Witnesses described Ashurst as "panicked" when he was at the GP surgery. He was struggling to even talk on the phone to his mum to explain what had happened. He was struggling to contact his partner Leanne. It was a "chaotic" scene.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages

 

[HayLouise]

Day 10:

12.30pm Hospitals

He went to Wigan Infirmary where 20 people were working on Hollie. Ashurst was trying to "earwig" and heard Hollie had a fractured skull, then something about getting a pulse back.

He then went to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, driven there by police with Leanne. They waited in a room and no-one talked to them, Ms Grahame says.

Baby Hollie Ashurst murder trial: LIVE updates as proceedings reach final stages