Isabella Wheildon murder trial: Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell cleared of killing two-year-old daughter – while Scott Jeff convicted

A mother has been cleared of murdering her two-year-old daughter in Ipswich – while her ex-boyfriend has been convicted.

The trial of Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell and Scott Jeff, both 24 and of no fixed address, but formerly of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, concluded at Ipswich Crown Court today.

The couple stood accused of the murder of two-year-old Isabella Wheildon, after her body was discovered at East Villa, a council-run temporary housing unit in Sidegate Lane on June 30, 2023.

Between them they were accused of eight offences, with each charged with one count of murder, one of causing or allowing the death of a child, one of cruelty to a child under 16 in relation to cocaine plus one of cruelty to a child under 16 with relation to cannabis.

Today, after a six-week trial, the jury found Jeff guilty of murder and the two counts of cruelty, while Gleason-Mitchell was cleared of murder.

She had previously pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to the other offences, while Jeff denied all charges against him.

Having been found guilty, Jeff will face a mandatory life sentence.

In the lead up to her death, Isabella was subjected to an ‘escalated regime of brutality’ which was ‘callous, cruel and ultimately fatal’, the court was told.

Isabella was also found to have traces of cocaine and cannabis in her system.

Police were called to East Villa shortly after 11am after a woman named Joanne Gardner told officers that her friend’s daughter died in her sleep.

A police officer arrived to a flat at the complex to find it empty and the bathroom locked. Upon opening, he sensed a stale smell before finding a toddler’s body in a pushchair in the shower, with bruises up and down her body, black eyes and blankets on top of her.

A post-mortem examination found ‘extensive external traumatic injuries’ to the soft tissues of the body, the court heard.

This included the neck, torso, limbs and back. Isabella had also suffered fractures to both wrists and a complex pelvic fracture involving several bones.

Microscopic exams found fractures across Isabella’s body dated between six and 24 hours, 48 to 96 hours, and eight to 14 days before her death.

Isabella’s cause of death was certified as a bone marrow embolism caused by skeletal trauma due to physical abuse, namely kicking or stamping, by Jeff.

The prosecution believed Isabella died on June 26, 2023 and the couple pushed around her dead body for days before she was found.

Earlier in the trial, Gleason-Mitchell said the abuse of Isabella began during their stay in Great Yarmouth after leaving Bedfordshire.

They spent time homeless on the beach as Caister-on-Sea – and were concerned Isabella would be taken away from them.

After Isabella’s death the pair fled to Bury St Edmunds, where they were arrested in Mustow Street, on July 1, 2023. Jeff told officers he ‘never murdered her as they booked him.

The court was told that Jeff’s mother urged her son to turn himself in. Jeff later tried to get Gleason-Mitchell to take the blame for Isabella’s killing.

Gleason-Mitchell previously expressed her fear of being killed if she intervened in Jeff’s abuse.

Jeff had only been in Isabella’s life a little over a month before her death.

The pair are due to be sentenced on December 13.