Mansfield child murder trial hears recording of grandparents desperately trying to save toddler's life

Katie Crowder burst through the door at her parents house in Wharmby Avenue, Mansfield, early in the morning on March 6 this year clutching her critically injured daughter Gracie, Nottingham Crown Court was told on Friday, November 20.

Crowder, 26, also or Wharmby Avenue, denies murdering the child, claiming she found her in the bathroom in that condition while she was away from her cleaning up after the dog.

But a leading A&E consultant at King’s Mill Hospital, where Gracie was taken, said she could only have sustained the extent of injuries she did by being immersed in scalding liquid for a sustained length of time.

In the recording, Crowder’s mother Karen is heard to say: “My daughter’s just come crashing through the door carrying my granddaughter - she’s covered in red blotches and she’s not breathing.”

She is then heard to say to her husband: “Is she breathing, is she breathing?” when asked by ambulance control.

When asked if there is a defibrillator in the vicinity, Mrs Crowder replies, “There isn’t, there isn’t.”

The couple were then instructed on how to perform CPR on the toddler, which they did until paramedics are heard to arrive in the recording.

Throughout, Mrs Crowder is heard to say: “She’s red hot and it looks like her skin is peeling off. She’s gone a funny colour, we can’t open her mouth. She’s dead, she’s dead, she’s dead.”

Gracie was rushed to King’s Mill Hospital, in Sutton, where A&E staff fought for around 25 minutes to save her life, but pronounced her dead at 7.10am.

In a written statement read to the court, A&E registrar Dr Neil Fernando stated that Gracie’s tongue was swollen up, so they had to make an incision in her throat to try and get oxygen into her lungs, and adrenaline had to be injected straight into the bone marrow in her shin bone because blood wasn’t pumping around her body.

"After 25 minutes, no sign of life could be seen, and as a team we took the decision to stop resuscitation and Gracie was declared dead at 7.10am,” said Dr Fernando.

Giving evidence to the court, King’s Mill A&E consultant Dr Ben Owens said he was made aware of Gracie’s death at around 7.30am and carried out the initial examination on her body.

The consultant, who told the court he has previous experience working in burns units at hospitals in Sheffield and Australia, said that the only part of Gracie’s body that wasn’t burnt were small areas of her scalp.

He said the only way Gracie could have sustained her injuries was by being submerged in scalding liquid or having it poured all over her body for a sustained length of time.

“She must have been in contact with hot liquid for some time,” he told the court.

Crowder denied murder.

The case continues on Monday.

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