Rickmansworth baby death: Girl died after being 'shaken or thrown'

Davey Everson, 23, denies murdering three-month-old Millie Rose Burdett

A baby girl died after she was "violently assaulted" by her mother's boyfriend and most likely thrown "against a surface", a court was told.

Davey Everson, 23, denies murdering three-month-old Millie Rose Burdett, who died on 11 January 2019.

St Albans Crown Court heard Mr Everson was alone with the baby girl when fatal injuries were inflicted on her.

Millie's mother Kirsty Burdett, 25, is also on trial, accused of failing to take reasonable steps to protect her.

Opening the prosecution's case, David Spens QC said Millie was admitted to Watford General Hospital on 15 December 2018 with multiple fractures and a severe brain injury, from which she never recovered.

The court heard Mr Everson told emergency services he had been feeding her in a bedroom when she choked and stopped breathing.

At the hospital, a scan showed Millie had a bleed on her brain which the prosecutor said suggested a "strong possibility of a non-accidental injury having taken place".

Mr Spens said Mr Everson had "never provided an account that explains how her injuries were caused".

"That is because the prosecution say the truth is he violently assaulted her in anger, most likely by shaking or throwing her against a surface such as into a cot," he said.

Kirsty Burdett, 25, denies failing to take reasonable steps to protect her daughter

The court heard Miss Burdett, of Nightingale Road, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, was pregnant with Millie when she split up from the child's father.

She then formed a relationship with Mr Everson, who lived in Haselbury Road, in Edmonton, London.

Jurors heard there had been previous incidents where Millie was injured prior to being admitted to hospital on 15 December 2018.

After being taken to Watford General Hospital, Millie was transferred to King's College Hospital in London where she died.

Miss Burdett pleads not guilty to causing or allowing the death of Millie by failing to take such steps as would be reasonably expected of her to protect the child from the risk of significant harm.

Both defendants also plead not guilty to a charge of cruelty to a person under 16 involving another young child who cannot be named.

The trial continues.