X and Y (Care Proceedings: Fact Finding: Death of a Child: Expert Evidence), Re

Facts

P, a little girl aged 2 years and 1 month, collapsed at the family home on 30 November 2023 while alone with her mother. Paramedics, summoned by a neighbour's 999 call, found her in cardiac arrest; she was intubated and taken to hospital, where scans revealed extensive brain injury from trauma and hypoxia. P was also found to have multi-layered retinal haemorrhages in her right eye, burn scarring to her right hand and the back of her neck, a crescent-shaped mark on her upper left arm and multiple bruises. Her younger sister X was placed in foster care under a police protection order and the local authority issued care proceedings on 4 December 2023. The mother was arrested and charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm. Following the trust's application, Mrs Justice Knowles granted permission for life-sustaining treatment to be withdrawn and P died on 9 February 2024; the mother was then charged with murder and, in April 2024, with child cruelty. The father, profoundly deaf, was charged with child cruelty. A third daughter, Y, was born a fortnight after P's death and joined X in foster care. Both parents pleaded guilty to child cruelty on 27 March 2025, but the mother's murder trial was adjourned and she sought to go behind her basis of plea, so the family court conducted a fact-finding hearing.