Maya Chappell: Shotton Colliery death followed weeks of abuse

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

The murder of a two-year-old girl by her mother's boyfriend was the end of weeks of abuse, a court has heard.

Maya Chappell died in hospital on 30 September 2022, two days after her accused killer, Michael Daymond, 27, called 999 reporting she was unwell.

She had likely been severely shaken and suffered forceful blows to the head, prosecutors told Teesside Crown Court.

Mr Daymond denies murder. Maya's mother, Dana Carr, 24, denies failing to protect her daughter.

The court heard Ms Carr and Mr Daymond started a short, but intense relationship in the summer of 2022 and moved in together, with Maya, to a new home in Shotton Colliery, County Durham at the end of August, just a month before the girl's death.

In his opening statement to jurors, Benjamin Nolan KC, said, in the weeks before Maya's death, other relatives saw multiple bruises on the two year old, and noted a change in her behaviour and mood - but the couple "came up with excuses, false explanations and lies to disguise what was happening".

Dana Carr is accused of allowing the death of a child, and child cruelty

He said: "Her death was sadly not a one-off event, but the culmination of increasingly frequent assaults.

"Tragically, it is clear, the violence and cruelty inflicted upon Maya was not unpredictable or even unexpected."

Ms Carr left Maya in Mr Daymond's care at their Milton Grove home at about 10:00 BST on 28 September to go to work, the court heard.

During the morning, Mr Daymond's stepfather visited and noticed Maya "did not seem to want to be anywhere near" Mr Daymond, the court heard.

At about 15:40, Mr Daymond called 999 to say Maya was "gasping for breath", and although her eyes were open it was "like she wasn't there", he said during the call.

Seconds later he told them she had stopped breathing.

While paramedics managed some degree of resuscitation on their arrival, Maya died two days later at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary without ever regaining consciousness.

Maya Chappell died at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary on 30 September 2022

Maya was found to have been subjected to a "blunt force assault, likely comprising severe shaking combined with impacts to the head and forceful blows to the abdomen", Mr Nolan said.

He said she suffered "extensive head, neck and torso bruising". The injuries must have been "deliberately inflicted and resulted in severe brain damage from which she could not recover", Mr Nolan told the court.

Mr Nolan said it was his expectation that Mr Daymond would deny causing any harm to Maya, and would claim her fatal injuries were caused by her "accidentally" falling out of bed and hitting her head on a bedside cabinet.

Mr Daymond is also charged with, and denies, child cruelty between 23 August and 29 September - relating to multiple assaults on Maya, the prosecutor said.

Maya's mother, Ms Carr, is also accused of, and denies, child cruelty, based on the prosecution's assertion that she "covered up" for Mr Daymond and hid the abuse.

Michael Daymond and Dana Carr are on trial at Teesside Crown Court

Mr Nolan said: "Dana Carr ought to have been aware there was a significant risk of serious physical harm being caused to her daughter by her then-partner, and she failed to take reasonable steps to protect Maya from that risk."

He said Ms Carr might argue she was "entirely unaware of the risk at the time" and that Mr Daymond lied to her.

Mr Nolan said Ms Carr had claimed Maya hit herself and cancelled visits by the girl's biological father, James Chappell, as well as days at nursery, in the week before her death to hide the toddler's bruises from others.

She also "minimised" and "became defensive" about Maya's injuries when she was challenged over them by Mr Chappell, the prosecutor said.

The trial continues.