'Lenient' sentence review after toddler's murder

Maya Chappell was killed by her mother's boyfriend

The sentence given to Maya Chappell's killer is being challenged in the belief it may be too lenient.

The two-year-old was shaken to death by Michael Daymond, who was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years in December.

The murderer's sentence is now being reviewed under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme, along with that of his partner at the time, Maya's mother Dana Carr.

She was locked up for nine years after ignoring her daughter's suffering for weeks prior to the "cowardly" killing.

Michael Daymond killed his partner's two-year-old child

Cruelty

Daymond killed Maya at her home in Shotton Colliery, County Durham in September 2022.

A trial held at Teesside Crown Court last year heard how Daymond, in debt with drug dealers at the time, had shaken the toddler to death after learning that his benefits had been stopped.

The two-year-old suffered "severe, unsurvivable brain trauma" and died two days after being found critically injured.

Daymond was ordered to serve a minimum term of 20 years behind bars for the crime, which a judge branded cowardly.

The 27-year-old was also found guilty of child cruelty.

Carr, of Burnopfield in County Durham, was convicted of allowing the death of a child and child cruelty by neglect.

Said to have "shut her eyes" to her new partner's assaults on the defenceless toddler, she had left Maya in Daymond's care while she went to work on the day the child was fatally injured.

Dana Carr allowed the death of her daughter Maya

Both sentences, handed down on 21 December 2023, have now been referred to the Attorney General's Office under the ULS, which allows members of the public to challenge sentences they believe to be too low.

They are now being reviewed and could potentially be extended as a result.