Maya Chappell murder circumstances under review, say Durham council

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

The circumstances surrounding the murder of a two-year-old girl by her mother's new boyfriend are being reviewed, a council has confirmed.

Maya Chappell was shaken to death by Michael Daymond in Shotton Colliery, County Durham, in September 2022.

Daymond, 27, was jailed for life and Maya's mother Dana Carr, 24, who ignored abuse concerns, for nine years.

Durham County Council said a Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review was under way.

Daymond had been in a relationship with Carr for nine weeks before killing Maya, and moved in with her and Maya in Shotton Colliery to flee a drugs debt.

A Teesside Crown Court judge said he started hurting Maya about five weeks before her death and on her last day, 28 September, inflicted multiple internal and external injuries.

Michael Daymond was found guilty of murdering Maya Chappell

The Honourable Mr Robert Bright said Daymond was receiving aggressive demands for money and was trying to resolve an issue with his universal credit that day, with Maya seen by a relative to be frightened of him.

Pathologists concluded she suffered unsurvivable brain injuries by being violently shaken, possibly with her head also impacting on a hard surface.

The court heard Maya attended two welcome days at a new nursery in mid-September but was not sent again.

The judge said Carr kept her away deliberately so staff would not see fresh bruises caused by Daymond.

Dana Carr ignored warning signs that her daughter was being harmed

Speaking after the sentencing, John Pearce, Durham County Council's corporate director for children and young people's services, said: "Our thoughts are firmly with Maya Chappell's loved ones.

"A Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review is under way which the council is contributing to and it would be inappropriate to comment while this is ongoing."

Carr was jailed for causing or allowing the death of a child, with the couple also each jailed for six years to be served concurrently after being found guilty of child cruelty.