Man gets life imprisonment for murder of partner’s child

A man has been jailed for life after murdering his partner’s two-year-old daughter and dumping her body in a locked bathroom.

Scott Jeffs, 24, will serve at least 26 years in prison for the murder of Isabella Jonas-Whilden, who was found with “traumatic injuries” in Ipswich on June 30, 2023.

Her mother, 24-year-old Chelsea Gleeson-Mitchell, was jailed for 10 years after admitting causing or allowing the death of a child.

Ipswich Crown Court heard how the Bedfordshire couple wheeled Isabella’s body around in a pushchair for days after her death before fleeing Ipswich on June 26.

Warning: This article contains details of physical abuse

Both were also sentenced to three months each for cruelty to a child in relation to cannabis and six months each for cruelty to a child in relation to cocaine, which will run concurrently.

Gleeson-Mitchell was found not guilty of murder at a trial in November.

High Court judge Mr Justice Neil Garnham said: “There she was, a two-year-old child who was completely dependent on both of you.

“Jeff, you subjected that helpless little girl to a brutal campaign of violence and those attacks were horrific. She was afraid of what was going to happen next.

“Gleeson-Mitchell, you are a weak and spineless person and pitifully desperate. Isabella should have looked to you for help but you did nothing.

“It is absolutely clear to me that his murder has had a devastating impact on his family and all of their lives will be permanently disfigured.

“You two are responsible for all this pain.”

Speaking in court, Isabella’s father, Thomas Wheeldon, said: “Isabella was the most amazing addition to my life – she was an extension of me and I miss her every day.

“When she died a part of me died and my whole world came crashing down – it has completely changed me and I am now a version of the same man I once was.

“Isabella was perfect in every way and her life was full of so much promise, but now all my dreams for her will never come true – I will never take her to her first day of school.

“Her life was tragically ended by you evil, sadistic and despicable people. I am so sorry Isabella. I am sorry for not being able to protect you.”

During a seven-week trial the court heard how the child suffered “psychological distress” and “physical trauma” due to Jeff and his “bad temper”.

Frustrated with Isabella’s struggles with potty training, he would repeatedly kick and stomp on her and punish her with cold squirts while her mother “stood by and did nothing”.

The brutal beating resulted in Isabella suffering injuries that are commonly seen in “high-velocity traffic accidents” or when someone is “kicked by a horse”.

Orthopedist Professor Anthony Freemont told the court during the couple’s trial that he had never seen such a serious pelvic injury in a child in his 40-year career.

Smiley, blonde Isabella, who was described as “charming and happy”, died from a bone marrow embolism as a result of skeletal trauma.

“The scale of injuries was really horrific,” Det Inspector Craig Powell, of Suffolk and Norfolk Police, told the BBC.

“The overall level of abuse and the way poor Isabella had to suffer is truly shocking and the couple’s actions were disgusting.

“None of us as police officers and parents have any idea how shocking it is and how much it escalated and how quickly it developed and how it ended so tragically.”

The abuse began when the pair, under the influence of drugs, left their hometown of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire and fled to the Norfolk coast.

After staying at the St George Hotel in Great Yarmouth, they slept inside a tent on a beach in Caistor-on-Sea before spending three nights in a caravan park.

By June 19, Jeff and Gleeson-Mitchell had moved into the East Villas housing complex in Sidegate Lane, Ipswich, after lying about fleeing domestic violence.

Seven days later, Isabella died. But, instead of reporting it to the police, the couple decided to act as if she was alive and continued “living a normal life”.

Today a court heard how her body was “treated with contempt” after death and “a bag of shopping was carelessly placed” in a pushchair on top of her.

In “gruesome” CCTV footage seen by the BBC, she can be seen wheeling her body around Ipswich in a pushchair while shopping, drinking and taking cocaine.

The alarm was raised only when, on 29 June, Gleeson-Mitchell told friend Joan Gardner that Isabella had been dead in her pushchair for almost three days.

The next day he abandoned Isabella and left his flat, catching a bus into the city center and going to McDonald’s and then a pub, before going shopping.

Before being arrested on 1 July the pair went to the Corn Exchange pub in Bury St Edmunds, where they spent several hours drinking and laughing.

Representing former nursery assistant Gleeson-Mitchell, Sasha Wass Casey said she “undoubtedly failed to protect her daughter” but had “deep love for her” and her “grief was immense”.

Jeff’s barrister, Christopher Paxton Casey, said that, while his “immaturity” was a “significant mitigating” factor, “no amount of mitigation can justify” what he did to Isabella.

Det Ch Insp Powell said: “The murder of any child is the worst crime imaginable and no sentence should be long enough.

“None of us involved in this case will ever forget Isabella. She truly touched our hearts.”