Mansfield child murder trial is told that toddler had burns to many areas of her body

Katie Crowder, 26, of Wharmby Avenue, Mansfield, is accused of scalding the 19-month-old daughter to death and then waiting before raising the alarm.

It is alleged that Crowder tipped boiling water over the child around an hour before rushing with the critically injured toddler to her parents’ home next-door-but-one, claiming she “had just found her like this”.

Giving evidence on the fifth day of the trial, which is expected to run for around two weeks, Home Office Pathologist Dr Stuart Hamilton, said that the injuries Gracie had received would not have been immediately life-threatening, but would have become so if not treated.

He told the court that, when he first examined Gracie’s body on March 11, five days after she was pronounced dead at King’s Mill Hospital, where she was rushed by paramedics, medical equipment used to try and save her was still attached.

He said there were burns to her face, ears, chest, arms, shoulders, chest, back, bottom, legs, feet and toes, and said her injuries were consistent with a large volume of hot liquid being poured over her.

The court had previously been told that Gracie had burns to 65 per cent of her body, which Dr Hamilton said he agreed was accurate.

“There is no reason why anyone would immediately die from these injuries,” he told the court.

He told the court that his formal cause of death was recorded as “due to the impact of scalding”.

Earlier in the trial, the jury heard transcripts of Crowder’s police interviews where she claimed she had been cleaning up dog urine and washing a duvet, and had discovered Gracie lying unconscious on the toilet floor with an upturned mop bucket next to her. She claimed to have immediately ran to her parents to raise the alarm.

Crowder denies murder.

The trial continues.

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