Advertisement

Father ‘murdered daughter, 13, by throwing her across a room when she was a baby’

A court sketch of Dean Smith. 45, during his appearance at the Old Bailey. (SWNS)
A court sketch of Dean Smith. 45, during his appearance at the Old Bailey. (SWNS)

A man accused of murdering his daughter threw her across the room when she was a baby because she would not stop crying, a court has heard.

Maisie Newell suffered a fractured skull and brain injuries after allegedly being thrown into her cot in August 2000, when she was aged four weeks old.

She died aged 13 in June 2014, which jurors heard was a result of the injuries she suffered, which left her disabled, in the incident nearly a decade and a half earlier.

Maisie was born healthy but received brain damage from the incident, and suffered from fitting, the Old Bailey heard. She needed constant care and was fed through a tube throughout her life.

Jurors heard she was unable to sit, stand, crawl or walk independently.

Her father, Dean Smith, 45, of Bushey, Hertfordshire, admitted manslaughter but denied murdering the girl, who was adopted by other people in 2002.

Prosecutor Sally O’Neill told jurors that Smith “used to refer to his daughter as ‘the b****’ although he would claim it was in jest”.

Maisie Newell, who allegedly died as a result of injuries she sustained as a baby which left her disabled. (PA Images)
Maisie Newell, who allegedly died as a result of injuries she sustained as a baby which left her disabled. (PA Images)

In the run up to the incident, Smith was at home in Edgware, North London, with Maisie and her older brother, who was 18 months old, the court heard.

Amanda Lee, Maisie’s mother, went to visit her friend. O’Neill said he told Lee he didn’t want to be left with a “f****** screaming baby for hours”.

She said when Lee returned, he had “assaulted his baby daughter” and “was later to admit” he did it “in a fit of temper because he became frustrated that she wouldn’t stop crying”.

Jurors heard he threw Maisie four or five feet across the room to a cot, and she knocked her head on the side of the cot.

“He then left her there whilst he smoked a cigarette and helped himself to a beer and said nothing about what had happened when Amanda returned home, simply telling her that the baby was asleep,” O’Neill said.

Smith denied any wrongdoing when Lee realised something had happened. He started crying, saying he had put the baby in the cot roughly and hit her head.

A general view of the Central Criminal Court in the Old Bailey, London.
Smith is being tried at the Old Bailey in London. (PA Images)

Smith, who was said to be “disgusted with himself” when speaking to police, pleaded guilty to causing really serious harm and was sentenced three years in prison in August 2001.

Maisie was taken to hospital with a breathing problem and bleeding in 2014 and died with her adoptive family at her side.

Pathologist Dr Benjamin Swift noted in the post-mortem examination that “it is possible to directly correlate the cause of her death to the original incident of non-accidental injury in August 2000”.

Giving evidence in court, Dr Swift said if Maisie had not been injured in 2000 then she “would not have been expected to die when she did”.

The trial continues.