By Eric King-
A mother and her boyfriend are in court, accused of poisoning a one-year-old toddler. The alleged murder was an effort to hide an earlier assault on the baby.
Leatherland, 24, and Curd, 31, from Watford are both charged with murder, manslaughter by gross negligence, and causing or allowing the death of a child. The case is one of the most disturbing involving a parent accused of culpability in the death of their child. If found guilty, they will go down as one of the most evil child killers in Britain. Both defendants deny the charges
Eve Leatherlando was found with a fractured skull, broken ribs and a split liver, when she was found dead in October 2017. She died at her home in Liskeard, Cornwall, where she lived with her mother Abigail Leatherland and her mother’s partner, Tom Curd. A large amount of the strong adult painkiller codeine was found in Eve’s system. Children are not supposed to be given codeine. Family members of both of the accused are shocked with the allegation, and some have even suggested there must be some error somewhere.
Prosecuting the case, Sean Brunton QC said the toddler was confined to the small house with just Abigail Leatherland and Curd in the four or five days leading to her death.
He added: “The inescapable reality is that one or both of these people assaulted that little girl so severely that she was left with life-threatening injuries.
“But rather than taking her to hospital, phoning a doctor or doing anything else to try and save her, ultimately she was given a fatal dose of codeine.
Obviously had she been taken to the doctor then her very serious injuries would have come to light and difficult questions would have been asked. So for these two defendants, this was not an option.” Brunton said that it is not possible for the prosecution to say who did what, but at least one of the two defendants, in their view, must have beaten Eve with such force that her liver ruptured.
He said: “And then at least one of them decided to administer adult medication to her to cover up when they had done and did so in such large quantities that it killer her.
“And all the while neither of them did a thing to help her. In fact, they seem to have spent the majority of the time simply watching TV, playing video games, sending each other text messages and chatting to people on Facebook, just feet away from where Eve was weakening and then dying on her bed,” he said. A shocked jury listened intently, as Brunton outlined his case for murder. He opened the case by stating:
ASSAULTED
“Eve Leatherland was murdered in her own home. In the few days leading up to her death she was assaulted on at least two occasions, possibly several more, and in the course of those assaults she suffered a fractured skull, several fractures ribs, a split liver and numerous other injuries of varying severity.
“She suffered injuries described by medical experts as being the type of injuries most commonly associated with a road traffic crash.
“Not only did she suffer a fractured skull and ribs on one occasion but it seems that when she was assaulted again the second assault was sufficiently similar to the first that it re-fractured her skull and re-fractured some of her ribs, tearing apart the young bones as they started to knit back together.
“But, ghastly as all that may sound this was not quite the end of it. Because despite these assaults on this young child, or perhaps because of them, more was to befall young Eve.
“After these attacks she was then given medication. Not medication kindly given to alleviate her suffering. Not a tea spoon full of Calpol to take the edge off a nasty cold or a banged knee. But rather, she was given so much medication that she was killed by it.
“Whether she was given the medication over a few days to try to mask the effects of these various assaults and these terrible injuries upon her, or whether she was given one massive dose in the hours shortly before she died, we cannot precisely say.
“Codeine is a strong adult painkiller and one which under no circumstances should ever be given to young children at all. But codeine was given to Eve in such a large quantity that it, possibly in combination with these terrible injuries she had suffered, killer her.
“Indeed the evidence would appear to be that the codeine alone, irrespective of the injuries would have been enough to kil
“The inescapable reality is that one or both of these people assaulted that little girl so severely that she was left with life-threatening injuries.
“But rather than taking her to hospital, phoning a doctor or doing anything else to try and save her, ultimately she was given a fatal dose of codeine. Obviously had she been taken to the doctor then her very serious injuries would have come to light and difficult questions would have been asked. So for these two defendants, this was not an option.”
Mr Brunton said that it is not possible for the prosecution to say who did what, but at least one of the two defendants, in their view, must have beaten Eve with such force that her liver ruptured.
He said: “And then at least one of them decided to administer adult medication to her to cover up when they had done and did so in such large quantities that it killer her.
“And all the while neither of them did a thing to help her. In fact, they seem to have spent the majority of the time simply watching TV, playing video games, sending each other text messages and chatting to people on Facebook, just feet away from where Eve was weakening and then dying on her bed.”