Jury sent to make verdict in Mansfield toddler murder trial

After two and a half weeks of proceedings, more than 20 witnesses and both defendants taking to the stand to share their version of events, the jury in the Eve Leatherland murder trial has begun its deliberations.
Eve LeatherlandEve Leatherland
Eve Leatherland

As of close of play on Wednesday, judge Mrs Justice Juliet May was halfway through summing up the evidence to the jury and giving them legal directions of how they should arrive at their verdicts.

On Thursday she complete her summing up before the jury went off to their room, buried away within Truro Crown Court, and began their deliberations.

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There is no set time as to how long a jury will take, it could be hours or it could be days but it is possible that we will get verdicts today.

Eve LeatherlandEve Leatherland
Eve Leatherland

Over the course of the trial the jury has been told how 22-month-old Eve sustained a number of fractures to her skull and ribs as well as a lacerated liver.

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The injuries were all inflicted at the Liskeard home she shared with her mother Abigail Leatherland, 26, and her new partner Tom Curd, 31, from Watford. Several of them were repeat fractures meaning her bones were re-broken during the healing process, the jury was told.

Abigail Leatherland, Eve Leatherland, and Tom Curd.Abigail Leatherland, Eve Leatherland, and Tom Curd.
Abigail Leatherland, Eve Leatherland, and Tom Curd.
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Medical experts said she eventually died from a codeine overdose but had help been sought sooner, Eve could have survived.

Both Curd and Leatherland had faced charges of murder, manslaughter by gross negligence and causing or allowing the death of a child.

However, after the completion of the evidence, the prosecution dropped the murder charge against Leatherland, saying it was Curd who beat Eve and gave her codeine in an attempt to hide the pain she was suffering from her mother.

The prosecution still claims that Leatherland failed Eve by not seeking medical assistance.

Both deny all charges. The trial continues.

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