Man who shook partner’s toddler to death guilty of murder

Maya Chappell’s mother has been convicted of child cruelty and allowing her death while her partner was convicted of murder and cruelty.

Maya Chappell (Durham Police/PA)

A new boyfriend who murdered his partner’s toddler by shaking her to death after learning his Universal Credit had been stopped will be jailed for life.

Michael Daymond, 27, attacked two-year-old Maya Chappell with such force that damage found in her eyes was similar to that suffered by people in car accidents or who had fallen from a tall building, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Her mother Dana Carr, 24, was convicted of child cruelty by neglect and allowing the death of a child.

The prosecution said she had effectively closed her eyes to the bruises Daymond inflicted on her little girl while she left her daughter in his care to go to work.

Daymond was convicted of murder and a child cruelty charge relating to those bruises, following a trial which lasted three weeks.

Carr and Maya’s father James Chappell had split up acrimoniously and she was besotted with her new partner who she had only met a few weeks before.

She rapidly moved in with him to a property in Shotton Colliery, County Durham.

While Carr was at work in Stockton, Teesside, she left Maya in Daymond’s sole care on September 28 last year.

In the hours leading up to the fatal attack, Daymond made repeated calls and log-in attempts to sort out his Universal Credit status, and by around 2pm he had found out it had been cut off.

Around 90 minutes later, he quickly dialled Carr – presumably to tell her that something had happened to Maya – before he rang 999 to say he had found the little girl “gasping for breath”.

As Carr tried to race back home, she texted Daymond, saying words to the effect: “I’m coming”, “please don’t leave me” and “are you ok”.

Ben Nolan KC, prosecuting, pointed out to the jury: “Not a single message asking about Maya.”

Daymond, who has no previous convictions, did not give evidence in his defence.

He told police that Maya must have fallen out of bed, but a series of medical experts told the court they were sure that her injuries were not accidental.

She died in hospital two days after the attack as a result of a “constellation” of injuries, having never regained consciousness, the court heard.

Maya’s father had raised concerns about bruising he saw on his daughter’s body during visits she had with him.

But Carr repeatedly lied to him about them, the court heard.

The couple took Maya out of nursery so the bruises on her body would not be seen by others.

When family members voiced their concerns, they were told the little girl was nipping herself or walking into things.

Even as the emergency services were working to save Maya before she was taken to hospital, Daymond made yet another call to Universal Credit to try to raise a dispute with them.

The mother also told the court that she was pregnant with twins, by Daymond, at the time of Maya’s death, and that she decided to have a termination after he was charged with murder.

But the prosecution said inquiries were made with the clinic she said she used, and there was no record of her having a termination there.

The former couple, who were convicted unanimously of all charges, will be sentenced on December 22.

Carr was granted bail ahead of the sentencing while Daymond was remanded in custody.

Outside court, Detective Superintendent Chris Barker said: “Maya Chappell died at the hands of someone who should have been caring for her.

“Maya was defenceless. She was two years old and should have felt safe at home, learning, playing and having fun but instead she lived in constant fear of what Michael Daymond was going to do to her next.

“She was too young to be able to tell anyone of her suffering and her mother Dana Carr who knew about the bruises but failed to act.

“Daymond thought he could get away with causing her pain by feeding those around him repeated lies and excuses.

“Eventually he killed her. But his cowardly unwillingness to admit what he did means we may never know why he killed Maya or exactly what went on in the weeks leading up to her death.”