Michael Daymond jailed for life for Maya Chappell murder

Maya Chappell died in hospital two days after collapsing at her Shotton Colliery home

A "coward" who murdered his new girlfriend's two-year-old daughter has been jailed for at least 20 years.

Michael Daymond had been with Dana Carr for nine weeks when he fatally injured Maya Chappell in September 2022.

Daymond, 27, was jailed for life with a minimum term at Teesside Crown Court after being found guilty of murder.

Carr, 24, who ignored relatives' concerns about Maya, was jailed for nine years for allowing her daughter's death.

Michael Daymond was found guilty of murdering Maya Chappell

The couple's trial heard Daymond was looking after Maya at their home in Shotton Colliery, County Durham, on 28 September while Carr went to work.

He called 999 at about 15:30 BST to say she had collapsed, with Maya dying in hospital two days later.

Pathologists concluded she was killed by an "inflicted head injury" consistent with being forcefully shaken.

Dana Carr ignored warning signs that her daughter was being harmed

In a statement read to the court, Maya's family and father James Chappell said the little girl's life had been "stolen" by a "monster and coward".

They said they would feel "crippled" with guilt for the rest of their lives for not protecting her, adding that their concerns about seeing suspicious bruises on Maya in the weeks before her death "were brushed off by the person who should have protected Maya with her life".

They said Maya was "full of life, mischief and personality", loving cake and Peppa Pig and having a "huge smile and infectious laugh".

The family said they felt "tormented" over the "torture" Maya was subjected to in the weeks before her death while Mr Chappell said he would have to live the rest of his life "without the little girl he idolised".

'Wilfully blind'

Daymond and Carr were "cold and calculating", with the former showing "no remorse" and the latter only ever wanting to protect herself, the family said.

Both were also found guilty of child cruelty and each jailed for six years to be served concurrently.

In mitigation for Carr, Toby Hedworth KC said she was "blinded to what was going on" by Daymond and the "reassurance he was giving her that nothing was untoward".

He said the "scales did eventually fall from her eyes" and she now realised the "enormity of her responsibility for what must have been going on", adding she felt "genuine remorse".

Maya loved cake and Peppa Pig, her family said

Mr Hedworth said Carr had a "harrowing childhood" and the "profound difficulties in her own upbringing" meant she was "not equipped to be able to deal with a child or the sort of relationship in which she found herself".

He said: "[Carr] wanted somebody to wrap her up and love her and this made her wilfully blind."

He said she also "grieves and mourns" Maya's death and that would be a "substantial punishment" which would "remain with her for the rest of her days".

Nicholas Lumley KC, mitigating for Daymond, said there was no "sadistic motivation" to Maya's death and neither was there "a substantial degree of premeditation or planning".

'Drugs debt'

Judge The Honourable Mr Robert Bright said Maya's murder followed weeks of "cruelty" and "mistreatment" with a "degree of nastiness" at the hands of Daymond.

He said several different relatives saw bruises on Maya's body but, when they flagged them to Carr, she told them Maya had caused them herself.

The court heard Maya attended two days at a new nursery in mid September but then Carr kept her at home.

The judge said it "seemed clear" that she feared staff would notice the bruises and report them.

The judge said Maya was "unique and wonderful and above all irreplaceable".

He said on 28 September Daymond had a "very bad day" where his Universal Credit was stopped and he was "aggressively" pursued for a drugs debt.

Just five minutes after the last message over his debt, Daymond contacted Carr and dialled 999 to say Maya was unwell.

Numerous internal and external bruises and injuries were found on Maya after her death, the "vast majority" of which must have been inflicted on 28 September, the judge said.

Michael Daymond was living with Maya and her mother at Milton Grove in Shotton Colliery (general view)

The judge told Carr she had "lied prodigiously and without compulsion" and "knew the extent of [Maya's] injuries and who had caused them".

He said her claims to be blinded by love "might explain" her actions but did not excuse them.

Carr showed a "wilful or reckless disregard" for Maya's welfare and her "lies to protect [Daymond] positively ensured Maya continued to be exposed to his violence", the judge said.

He said Carr was "emotionally vulnerable" after breaking up with Maya's father and that led her to Daymond which was "bad for [Carr] and catastrophic for Maya".

The judge said he accepted Carr loved her daughter and was "distraught about her death", adding: "No punishment this court imposes can come close to the effect of your grief".