A mother on trial for murdering her 16 month old daughter alongside her girlfriend was warned her new volatile relationship could 'ruin her life', a court has heard.
Toddler Star Hobson died from 'catastrophic' injuries to her abdomen after concerned relatives of Frankie Smith, 20, alerted police and social services to bruising to her body.
Smith and her girlfriend Savannah Brockhill, 28, are currently standing trial charged with murder and causing or allowing the death of the baby in their flat in Keighley, West Yorkshire, on September 22 last year.
Brockhill stated 'we're going down for murder' the day after Star died when the veins carrying blood back to her heart from her legs and organs of the abdomen had been torn, causing major blood loss, jurors were told.
Family were concerned that the toddler was being abused, and Smith's grandfather David Fawcett also noticed bruising to his granddaughter's legs and neck.
Toddler Star Hobson (above) died from 'catastrophic' injuries to her abdomen after concerned relatives of Frankie Smith, 20, alerted police and social services to bruising to her body
'They looked like the sort of bruises you would get if you had been strangled, not the sort you would get if you'd fallen,' Mr Fawcett told Bradford Crown Court.
But the neck injuries were passed-off as 'love bites', the jury heard.
The toddler's death came days after a referral in May 2020 by Smith's grandmother Anita Smith was dismissed as 'malicious'. Case workers then closed the file on Star.
Prosecutors say her injuries were caused by a severe and forceful blow or blows, 'either in the form of punching, stamping or kicking to the abdomen'.
When paramedics arrived at the flat, they found Star apparently lifeless, pale and wearing only a disposable nappy.
Brockhill (pictured with Smith) stated 'we're going down for murder'
She was in cardiac arrest and as they attempted
