A TODDLER was murdered by her mother and her boyfriend following a harrowing ‘campaign of violence’ in which she sustained 21 broken bones, a court heard.
having suffered weeks of abuse at the hands of Alexandra Walker and Harrison Simpson, it is alleged.
Isabelle Rose Welsh was hailed as a ‘princess’ by her devastated family Credit: Facebook
Isabelle Rose’s family said the toddler was ‘full of life’
The youngster endured multiple fractures to 21 bones in the days and weeks before her death on 14 September last year and had also been sexually assaulted, Crown was told.
Walker, 25, and Simpson, 22, deny murder, sexual assault, causing or allowing the death of a child and child cruelty offences.
Opening the case to jurors, Richard Wright, KC, prosecuting, said Isabelle had suffered a ‘campaign of violence’ at her home in Hartington Close, Thornaby, where Simpson was a regular visitor.
The youngster died after allegedly being violently shaken and slammed against a ‘hard, unyielding’ surface on September 13 last year before passing away in hospital in the early hours of the following morning.
Isabelle’s mum Alexandra Walker, 25, has been charged with murderCredit: Refer to source
Harrison Simpson, 21, faces a further charge of rapeCredit: Refer to source
Outlining the case, Mr Wright told how paramedics responding to a 999 call discovered Isabelle collapsed at the foot of the stairs covered in bruises, with ‘no pulse and plainly gravely ill’.
He said: ‘Isabelle’s death was not the result of some form of naturally occurring illness.
‘She died because shortly before her terminal collapse somebody had inflicted a massive head injury upon her.
‘Her skull had been fractured, her brain had been injured, and her heart had stopped as a result of that assault upon her.
Mr Wright added: ‘This was no accident. It was the deliberate infliction of injury on that little girl.
”It was, say the prosecution, murder.
‘Neither was the assault on Isabelle an isolated act of violence towards her.’
Post-mortem tests on Isabelle revealed a catalogue of injuries, the jury was told.
Tributes were left outside the home in Thornaby Credit: Facebook
Her devastated family paid an emotional tribute Credit: Facebook
She had suffered ‘multiple fractures to no less than 21 bones in her body’, including her arms, legs and spine, and 97 soft-tissue injuries.
The court heard that 11 days before Isabelle died, she was taken by Walker to see a who said her daughter was struggling to walk.
Walker reportedly claimed the toddler had trapped her leg in the bars of her cot two weeks earlier. At hospital, an X-ray revealed a spiral fracture of Isabelle’s right shin bone.
Mr Wright said: ‘Her right leg was found to be fractured, but despite the concerns of some of the medical staff, Isabelle was discharged back into the care of her mother, the account of an accidental injury seemingly having been accepted.
‘That earlier fracture to her leg was however no more of an accident than the fatal head injury that killed her.’
Mr Wright said both Walker and Simpson ‘must have been aware’ of the abuse because their two-bedroomed house was ‘so small and the injuries both so severe and obvious’.
He added: ‘For weeks this child had been violently assaulted and her death, by that terrible head injury, was simply the end point in that campaign of violence to which she had been subjected.
‘Who had done this to Isabelle? The prosecution will invite you to conclude that Isabelle had been subjected to that violence by her mother and by her mother’s boyfriend.’
The prosecution alleged that Walker only called 999 on the day of her death after being told to do so by her stepfather ‘long after she must have known her daughter was critically ill.’
Mr Wright said: ‘Their failure to summon help from doctors and finally the emergency services was an act of self-preservation.
‘They knew the questions that would come and had no convincing answer for them.’
The court heard that Simpson and Walker began a relationship in the of 2025. Isabelle, born in March 2023, was Walker’s only child.
Mr Wright said: ‘The prosecution say that there is no doubt that this relationship was unhealthy. That it was characterised by drink on the part of Walker and on the part of Simpson.
‘It led to a decline over time in the care that was being given to Isabelle.
‘That then built into her being subjected to regular violence at home by these two defendants.’
Central to the six-week trial is CCTV footage taken from inside Walker’s home.
The court was told that the footage ‘demonstrates the difference’ in Isabelle from June 2025 to the time of her death the following year.
The trial continues.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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