Lola James: Murder accused took 30 minutes to call 999 - court told

Lola James died at the Noah's Ark children's hospital in Cardiff on 21 July, 2020

A man accused of the murder of a two-year old girl told police he waited more than 30 minutes to call an ambulance after he found her at the bottom of the stairs, a court heard.

Lola James died after a "catastrophic head injury" and 101 surface injuries.

During police interviews, Kyle Bevan, 31, said he believed a family dog had knocked Lola down the stairs.

At Swansea Crown Court he denies murder and Lola's mother, Sinead James, 30, denies causing or allowing her death.

The court heard quotes from his police interview, when he said he had seen Lola at the top of the stairs and went into the kitchen to make cereals. He then said: "I heard the dog's footprints then two loud bangs".

Mr Bevan told police that he didn't see Lola fall, but found her at the bottom of the stairs.

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He told officers that he "panicked" and said he didn't want to wake his partner Sinead James - instead trying to assist Lola himself.

He also told police that he thought Lola had bitten off part of her tongue, so he used a cloth to stop the bleeding.

Lola was described in court as a "cheeky monkey"

Officers were told he dressed her and moved her to the living room where he put Lola in the recovery position on the sofa.

He said he attempted CPR and searched the internet for advice on what to do when someone was unconscious. He said: "Everyone said brain damage, brain damage, brain damage on Google".

Mr Bevan told officers that he then called his mother and said that initially, she didn't answer the phone three times.

He then messaged his mother saying: "This is really important mum, I sent her a picture of Lola and said what do I do? She's floppy."

'She's all limp'

Mr Bevan's mother told him to ring an ambulance, but he said he asked her to call 999 as he had a problem with the signal on his phone. He admitted he filmed Lola's condition and sent it to his mother.

"I did send a video of the state she was in because the photo didn't show it. I took a 20-second video where I tried standing her up and she fell and I said 'come on baby'," he said.

"I said, look, she's all limp, Sinead is going to go up the wall."

Mr Bevan told police that a few days before she was seriously injured, Lola had been knocked over by the dog in the lounge and said she had damaged her nose on a coffee table when she fell.

Her nose had been "flattened", he said, but he didn't call for any medical help as he didn't think she had broken it.

She regularly had bruises and in the days before he found her at the bottom of the stairs - she had been "in the wars", he added.

Lola's mother Sinead James is charged with causing or allowing her death

Mr Bevan told police that on the night she was fatally injured, Lola went to bed around midnight, several hours after her mother Sinead.

He said that a loud bang which Sinead heard around that time was Lola falling onto toys in her bedroom. When Sinead came to find out what was happening, he told her he was "dealing with it".

After that, he said he went downstairs to the lounge where he watched TV and played computer games for the rest of the night.

Mr Bevan told police he gave Lola Calpol at around 04:30 GMT because he heard her up and when he saw her, thought she looked "under the weather".

He told police he had done some cleaning and mopping in the house the previous day, but couldn't explain why areas of the house were wet when the emergency services arrived.

When police put it to him that he had caused Lola's injuries, he denied it, telling officers he had "never ever" hit a child.

"It's not my fault, I didn't cause that bruising," he said.

The trial continues.