GUILTY UK - Lexi Draper, 3, & Scarlett Vaughan, 16 mos, murdered, Skiddaw, Rugby, Jan/Feb 2018 *GUILTY*

[Alyce]

change of plea ?

 

[Tortoise]

change of plea ?

I doubt it. My guess is they've finished the defence case (with no reporting) and they will be moving to closing speeches tomorrow. At least that would fit with the opening timetable of 3 weeks. Unless defence case starts tomorrow, but I don't know why they wouldn't use valuable court time this afternoon. They were in a bit of a hurry to have this completed quickly because of her pregnancy - assuming she's still pregnant.

 

[Tortoise]

10:40
Trial delayed
The jury has been sent home and the trial will not go ahead today as a juror is sick.

It is now hoped the case will continue tomorrow.

We will be back in court then to bring you live updates.

Mum accused of murdering daughters on trial

 

[Alyce]

Birmingham Crown Court 8 T20197175
louise porton

Details: Trial (Part Heard) - Resume - 10:03
Trial (Part Heard) - Case adjourned until 10:30 - 10:15

 

[Alyce]

10:34

Trial beginning

After the delays yesterday, the trial is back underway at Birmingham Crown Court.

Louise Porton has been called to give evidence.




Live: Mum accused of murdering daughters giving evidence

 

[Alyce]

11:15
Mum denies being aggressive
Porton is being questioned by Mr Peter Cooper, defending.

In relation to her living in Willenhall in 2017, he asks if she was every verbally aggressive towards her children. Porton says no.

He asks if she was ever physically aggressive towards her children. She says no.

 

[Alyce]

11:22

Mum relied on sister
The court hears that Porton moved to the Rugby area at the beginning of November 2017.

Her sister Karen also lived in the Rugby area.

The court hears Porton moved into a guesthouse where she shared a bedroom with her two daughters at the end of November 2017, after initially staying with her sister Karen.

Porton says the guesthouse “wasn’t suitable to stay in all day” due to the shared facilities.

She says when she wasn’t at the guesthouse she was with Karen and would see her everyday.

Mr Cooper asks is her and her sister were close - she says yes.



Live: Mum accused of murdering daughters giving evidence

 

[Alyce]

Mum: 'I tried to give them whatever they wanted'
Mr Cooper asks Porton what she most enjoyed about being a parent to Lexi and Scarlett.

She answers: “They were funny. They were always making me laugh. I could take them places. I tried to give them whatever they wanted.”

Mr Cooper asks Porton how easy it was to be a parent.

She says it was “not one of the easiest things to do” but says she coped.

 

[Alyce]

Mum: 'I loved them'
Mr Cooper asks Porton if she ever regretted having either of her children. She says no.

He asks if she loved her children and she says yes

Mum left children alone for 'five minutes'
The trial hears that Porton would leave her children in the room at the guesthouse while she went to the shop over the road.

Asked how long she would be gone for, Porton replies “no longer than four or five minutes”.

She says she would do this “two or three times a week”.


Live: Mum accused of murdering daughters giving evidence

 

[Blondiexoxo]

Ooh we may actually hear some evidence today, why has this been so quiet does anyone know?

It’s going to be a hard job for the defence to explain how this woman’s two daughters inexplicably died within 2 weeks of each other it’s just the most unlikely scenario, unless post mortem did actually show signs of some underlying illness in both girls. I also want to know who was witness 39!!

 

[Alyce]

Trouble sleeping
The court hears Porton sent a message to a man named Jay in November 2017 in which she says she has “no chance of an early night with these kids”.

Mr Cooper asks if the children interrupted her sleep and she says yes. He asks what the effect was and she says “just tiredness”.

He asks if she became angry or frustrated as a result and she says no.

 

[Alyce]

Sleeping tablets
Another message that Porton sent to her sister Karen says “gonna give them both sleeping tables haha”. Mr Cooper asks if the content of the message was serious and she says no.

Photoshoots
The court hears that Porton would make money by organising photoshoots.

She says during the period of the end of 2017 to the beginning of 2018 she would have photos taken of her a few times a month.

She says she would also make money by sending photos of herself from her phone.

 

[Tortoise]

Ooh we may actually hear some evidence today, why has this been so quiet does anyone know?

It’s going to be a hard job for the defence to explain how this woman’s two daughters inexplicably died within 2 weeks of each other it’s just the most unlikely scenario, unless post mortem did actually show signs of some underlying illness in both girls. I also want to know who was witness 39!!

Witness 39 and 40 were both fairly lengthy witnesses we never heard about. I'm hoping what we missed might be mentioned in closing speeches.

 

[Alyce]

Mum believed daughter was having fit
Speaking about the night Lexi was admitted to hospital on January 2, Porton says she believed her daughter was having a fit in the bedroom of their guesthouse.

Asked what let her to believe this, Porton says “her body was shaking” for around two to three minutes.

She also says “her eyes rolled back into her head and her lips went blue”.

Mr Cooper asks Porton what she was doing while Lexi was shaking and she replies “trying to figure out what was happening”.

Timeline of emergency calls
The court hears that Porton sent a message to her sister which said she was waiting for a call back from 111.

The timeline shows that her first call to 111 was made approximately 11 minutes after that message was sent.

Asked why she told Karen she was waiting for a call back before this, Porton says she can’t remember


Live: Murder-accused mum joked about giving daughters sleeping tablets

 

[Alyce]

Mum sent sexual photos while in hospital
The court hears that Porton asked a man for money in a text message while she was in hospital with Lexi.

She said she would send sexual images in return for money.

Porton says she had not received her Universal Credit payment.

Porton moved from the guesthouse to a flat at Beechwood Court on January 10.

 

[Alyce]

Mum lied about daughter's health
Mr Cooper reads a text message Porton sent to a photographer in which she says the doctors told her Lexi was going to die.

Mr Cooper asks Porton if a doctor told her Lexi was going to die and she says no.

Asked whether she believed Lexi was going to die she says no.

Internet searches
Mr Cooper asks about some websites that Porton visited which included pages titled “for how long after drowning can someone be resuscitated” and “how long does it take for a dead body to go cold up to the shoulder”.

Asked whether she knows why she visited those sites, Porton says no.

Mr Cooper asks if Porton was thinking about harming her children while visiting these websites, Porton says no.

Mum: 'She didn't look like she was breathing'
Speaking about the night Lexi died, Porton says Lexi was in her bed when she found her.

Porton says she “didn’t look like she was breathing”. Asked whether she knew Lexi was dead at this time, Porton says no.

The court hears that Lexi was pronounced dead by paramedics at the flat, and Porton accompanied Lexi in the ambulance to the hospital.

When she left the hospital Porton says she went to her sister Karen’s home where Scarlett was being cared for.

Porton says she stayed there in the days following Lexi’s death




Live: Murder-accused mum sent sexual photos while daughter was in hospital

 

[Alyce]

Mum 'not coping'
Mr Cooper reads out a message that Porton sent to her sister on January 18.

In it, Porton tells her sister she is “not coping well as you all think”.

Asked why, Porton says: “It hadn’t sunk in the fact that Lexi wasn’t there.”

 

[Alyce]

Laughing out loud
The court hears that Porton visited Rugby council on January 29. Porton says this was “to get a room in a hotel”. Asked why, Porton says she “couldn’t face [going back to the flat] without Lexi being there”.

Mr Cooper says CCTV of the reception area at the council shows Porton laugh out loud while with her sister.

Asked what would have made her laugh, Porton says “Karen”.

She says she could not remember precisely what made her laugh.

Day of Scarlett's death
The court is now hearing of the events of February 1, when Scarlett died.

Scarlett was at a leisure centre creche while Porton says she was “at the gym with Karen”.

They left the leisure centre during the morning and asked how Scarlet seemed at the time, Porton says “fine”.

From the leisure centre, they went to her sister Karen’s home.



Live: Murder-accused mum sent sexual photos while daughter was in hospital

 

[Alyce]

'Sexy babies' message
Mr Cooper reads out messages sent from Porton to a man called Dom.

One includes the phrase “sexy babies”.

Porton says she doesn’t recall who Dom was. Asked if she had ever met with Dom in person, Porton says no.

Asked where Scarlett was while these messages were being exchanged, Porton says she was downstairs in a travel cot.

Message: 'Scarlett may go same'
At around 7:30 pm Porton was back at the hotel with Scarlett.

The court hears that over the next few minutes Porton exchanged messages with someone called Kim. She says she can’t remember who that was.

One message said Lexi had died and “Scarlett may go same”.

Asked why she said that, Porton said she can’t remember.

Mr Cooper asks if anything had made Porton think Scarlett may also die, and Porton says no.


Sleeping concerns
The court hears that Porton sent another message that evening to someone else that said Scarlett was asleep and it was “properly early” for her.

Porton says she was intending to book a doctor’s appointment for Scarlett. Asked why she says “she was sleeping more. I was worried about her.”

Mr Cooper, defending, asks if she continued to check on Scarlett while she was in the room with her and she says yes.

Mum: Scarlett wasn't dead when we left hotel
The court hears that Porton left the hotel with Scarlett at around 9.40pm that evening.

Porton says she was taking Scarlett “to the hospital to get checked out”.

Asked why, Porton says because of her sleeping.

Mr Cooper asks Porton if she did something to make her sleep and Porton says no.

He asks if Scarlett was dead at the time she left the hotel and Porton says no, she was sleeping.

Asked if she had killed Scarlett in the hotel room, Porton says no.

Scarlett's blood found on pillow
The court hears that blood that can be linked to Scarlett was later found on a pillow.

Asked whether she knows why that blood was there, Porton says no.

Asked if she did anything to cause the blood to be on the pillow, she says no.

Long route to hospital
Speaking about the route Porton took to the hospital that night, Mr Cooper asks if she would agree it was not the most direct route according to Google Maps. She agrees.

Asked why she took that route she says it is a route she knows because of Karen.

Asked if she was deliberately taking a long route to the hospital, she says no

Stopped for petrol
The court hears that Porton stopped to get petrol at around 10.15pm.

Porton says she believes Scarlett was asleep while they were at the petrol station. She says she did not check on Scarlett while there.

The court hears that Porton was then seen going into a retail park approximately four minutes later.

Porton says this was to book an appointment to get Scarlett seen at the hospital.

Asked why she hadn’t tried to book the appointment when she was at the petrol station, Porton says it was because you’re not supposed to make calls at petrol stations


CPR in car
The court hears that Porton called 111 at around 10:20pm.

Porton says she made checks on Scarlett’s breathing when asked to by the paramedics, she also moved Scarlett onto the drivers seat when asked to do so.

Porton says she was asked to perform CPR on her daughter.

Mr Cooper asks how she felt about doing CPR and she says: “Worried, I didn’t really know what I was doing with CPR.”

Ambulances arrive
When the first responder Mr Shaw arrived at the scene he took over performing CPR from Porton.

Two ambulances also arrived at the scene.

Porton says she told paramedics “she seems like she’s had the flu”.

She says she also told them Scarlett had been “drowsy and sleepy throughout the day”.



Live: Murder-accused mum sent sexual photos while daughter was in hospital

 

[Alyce]

Journey to hospital
Asked how she was feeling, Porton said she was “upset and worried”.

The court hears that Porton sat in the front passenger seat of the ambulance while Scarlett was taken to hospital.

Porton says this is because one of the ambulance staff told her to as there was no room in the back

Shocked at death
Mr Cooper tells the court that Scarlett was formally pronounced dead at the hospital.

Porton says she felt “upset and shocked”.

Live: Murder-accused mum sent sexual photos while daughter was in hospital