Female bouncer, 28, who beat girlfriend's toddler daughter to death is convicted of murder while child's mother is guilty of allowing it - and social services missed FIVE chances to save her in chilling echoes of little Arthur Labinjo-Hughes
A bouncer murdered her girlfriend's 16-month-old daughter in lockdown after the pair hoodwinked social services into letting them keep her - in a devastating failure by the authorities echoing Arthur Labinjo-Hughes' death.
Savannah Brockhill, 28, killed 20-year-old lover Frankie Smith's daughter Star Hobson at her home in Keighley, West Yorkshire. Smith was convicted today of causing or allowing the death of a child.
The verdicts come less than a fortnight after the stepmother of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, Emma Tustin, was found guilty of his murder in a case that caused widespread shock and revulsion.
Just like that case, social services were repeatedly warned about Brockhill and Smith but Star was allowed to stay with them.
Smith - who has a very low IQ of 70 - was said to have been domineered by her older partner and so enthralled by her she lost interest in her own daughter.
Brockhill was aggressively possessive of her and threatened on Snapchat to 'put anyone in a chair' who messaged her.
At one point the toddler's great-grandparents Anita Smith and David Fawcett warned the authorities: 'We don't want another Baby P on our hands here, do we?'.
Mr Fawcett revealed 'The lady on the phone from social services said, 'how do you mean?', and we were shocked at her reaction.
'Well, Baby P died through abuse, and we're making a complaint. My first reaction would have been, 'yeah, right, we're on the ball, we'll sort this one out, we don't want another Baby P'. Especially with them being the social services. It just came across as being a bit shambolic, really, Absolutely shambolic.'
Star was taken to hospital on September 22, 2020, but the injuries she had suffered were 'unsurvivable', Alistair MacDonald QC told Bradford Crown Court.
The jury heard the injuries which caused the toddler's death involved extensive damage to her abdominal cavity.
These were 'caused by a severe and forceful blow or blows, either in the form of punching, stamping or kicking to the abdomen'.
Prosecuting, Mr MacDonald said Smith and Brockhill were the only adults in the flat at the time.
Frankie Smith, 20, and her partner, Savannah Brockhill, 28, killed Smith's daughter Star Hobson (pictured) at her home in Keighley, West Yorkshire
The jury heard the injuries which caused the toddler's death involved extensive damage to her abdominal cavity. Pictured: Smith and Brockhill
Star suffered a split to the liver, a tear to the fatty attachments of the bowel and bruising to the lower part of the lungs and the pancreas, the court was told.
He said: 'The effect of such injuries was immediate and heavy bleeding into the abdominal cavity, which caused a catastrophic drop in blood pressure and unconsciousness and death within seconds to minutes.
'The assault or assaults that killed Star clearly involved the use of severe force and were obviously intentional. This little girl suffered no accidental death.'The prosecutor said investigations found evidence on the girl's body which meant 'in the course of her short life Star had suffered a number of significant injuries'.
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Mr MacDonald said there had also been two fractures to the toddler's right leg 'caused by forceful twisting', which had been refractured as they healed.
He described a fracture to the back of Star's skull, and bruising, 'much of which is considered to be non-accidental in origin'.
Jurors were shown footage which prosecutors said showed Brockhill delivering 21 blows to Star in a car over three hours, some as the toddler sat in a car seat.
Star Hobson (pictured with Brockhill) suffered a cardiac arrest and died in hospital from appalling injuries inflicted on her
A number of relatives and friends of Smith (left, with Brockhill) told the jury of concerns they had over bruises they saw on Star which, in some instances, they filmed
It appeared to show Brockhill punching Star with what the prosecutor described as 'considerable force'.
At one point the youngster fell out of the vehicle. Brockhill also grabbed Star by the throat.
Another film which was shown to the jury, described by the prosecutor as 'disturbing and bizarre', showed Star falling off a plastic chair and hitting the floor.
The mobile phone footage had been slowed down with music added, plus a caption which said 'in this moment she realises she has messed up'.
Another clip, filmed on both defendants' phones, showed Star being so exhausted she fell forward and went to sleep in a bowl of food.
Mr MacDonald told the jury the toddler was 'clearly exhausted but treated completely without love'.
He said 'there was also a degree of cruelty and psychological harm' inflicted on Star in the weeks and months before she died, as well as physical assaults.
A number of relatives and friends of Smith told the jury of concerns they had over bruises they saw on Star which, in some instances, they filmed.
Jurors were told that a number of referrals were by them made to social services from January 2020.
Brockhill and Smith, from Keighley, both denied murder and also causing or allowing Star's death.
Summing up the case on Thursday, Mrs Justice Lambert told the jury the prosecution case was it was Brockhill who inflicted the fatal injuries on the toddler.
Both women denied inflicting the injuries and each claimed it must have been the other.
Smith told the jury she was not in the room when Star suffered the fatal injuries but did not suspect Brockhill until she reassessed the situation in prison.
Brockhill described how she ran into the room after hearing a thud and found Star on the floor groaning. She said she administered CPR to the youngster and called 999.
When ambulance staff found Star lifeless, pale and wearing only a disposable nappy, they attempted CPR, leading her to vomit 'large amounts' of brown material.
She was then rushed to Airedale hospital – just six minutes away - where clinicians did everything they could to save her, but she was pronounced dead that afternoon.
Lead prosecutor, Alistair McDonald QC, stated that Star had abdominal injuries, 'Caused by the application of blunt force in the form of a punch, kick or stamp delivered to the front of the abdomen.'
After causing the injuries, Mr McDonald said the pair searched online for 'shock in babies' and waited 15 minutes before calling for help.
Mr MacDonald added: 'The reality is that the injuries suffered by Star were so catastrophic that there never was any real chance of saving her life.'
'The speed of all this is illustrated by the fact that the ambulance was called at 15.49 and death was pronounced at 16.59 so it all happened in a very short period of time.'
Smith's representative, Zafar Ali QC, conceded that during the relationship, Smith had neglected her caring duties saying: 'Frankie Smith was a terrible mother. She was selfish and sometimes callous.'
The verdicts come less than a fortnight after the stepmother of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, Emma Tustin, was found guilty of his murder in a case that caused widespread shock and revulsion.
Judge Mrs Justice Lambert said Brockhill and Smith will be sentenced on Wednesday.
Social services cleared baby killers FIVE TIMES: Star Hobson's desperate great-grandparents begged 'we don't want another Baby P on our hands' but their concerns were deemed 'malicious' just ONE week before 16-month-old was murdered
Social workers investigating the couple who killed innocent Star Hobson cleared them five times - even declaring a referral to them was 'malicious' the week before she was murdered.
The authorities fell for mother Frankie Smith, 20, and her 24-year-old girlfriend Savannah Brockhill's lies, despite a series of concerns raised by relatives.
During an unannounced social worker visit to their Keighley home on September 15 last year Star was so dazed by the abuse she had suffered she walked into a sofa.
She had bruises on her face and shins but the Bradford City Council worker believed Brockhill's explanation she'd fallen down the stairs.
In fact she was being 'choke slammed', swung by her leg and hit in the face by the twisted couple.
They referred to her as a 'brat' and forced her to stand facing the wall for long periods of time during their reign of cruelty.
In total two friends and three relatives - including Star's own father - had reported them to social services but they were still allowed to keep her.
As Brockhill was today convicted of murdering her and Smith for allowing her death, serious questions were being asked of the authorities.
Two month ago the head of the council's Children Services department Mark Douglas resigned.
Ofsted rated the service as 'inadequate' in 2018 and warned 'some children were at serious risk of harm'. In June this year it was hit with a 'direction to improve' over a 'slow pace of change'.
Lies from Frankie Smith, 20, and Savannah Brockhill, 24, were believed by the authorities
Abused Star was so dazed she walked into a sofa in view of social worker during one visit
Bradford City Council head of Children Services Mark Douglas resigned in October this year
Social services first got involved in Star's treatment in January 23, 2020, after a referral from Smith's friend and sometimes babysitter Holly Jones.
She flagged up potential domestic violence issues and the fact Star was increasingly being left in her care.
Three days later police visited but there were no concerns raised. Social services tried to visit Smith on January 28 but she was not home.
Her family were spoken to and no problems were raised, so the case was closed on February 27.
Innocent Star Hobson was only 16 months old when she was killed in her Keighley home after five social services cases drop
On May 5 social services were contacted by Star's great-grandmother Anita Smith over concerns over how the baby was being treated.
They visited but there were no bruises to either the baby or her mother.
Social services spoke to Frankie Smith and Brockhill and the latter gave them permission to do police checks on her.
After making the referral, Ms Smith said she was called a 'weirdo' and a 'freak', and she and Mr Fawcett had their access to Star restricted from then on, seeing Star only a couple more times before her death that September.
Her partner David Fawcett said the tot seemed 'depressed' after returning to her mother.
He said she quickly developed bruises on her face and body, while appearing to have 'lost that spark she had' when staying with them. He told the court: 'I'd never seen a depressed baby before in my life.'
Mr Fawcett said he had confronted Brockhill about Star's bruises and was told 'all kids get bruises'.
When he questioned how she didn't get any while living with him he said she hung up the phone so he posted comparison photos of Star with bruises and without on Facebook. Frankie Smith then blocked him after seeing them.
Jordan Hobson, Star's father, referred Smith and Brockhill to social services on June 21 after seeing pictures the couple had shared of his daughter's bruised face.
Police again visited their home and saw the markings on the baby's head.
Smith told them Star had hit her head on the handle of a coffee table.
A medical examination found two bruises on her cheek and four on the back of her leg.
Smith and Brockhill's explanation that they were from her playing with a puppy were believed.
Social services were again contacted on June 23 by Rachel Whiteley, a close friend of Smith's mother Yvonne Spendley.
She had been concerned how Smith had treated Star at a barbecue, picking her up roughly.
Ms Whiteley said at the time: 'I thought it was disgusting, giving her barbecue food, the way she handled her.'
Social services closed the case in July, it is not clear what was done.
On September 2 Frank Smith – Star's paternal great-grandfather – alerted social services to a video of Star with bruises on her face.
When they visited her, her mother was said to have been in Scotland.
The next day they went again unannounced and found her at home with Brockhill.
They noticed Star was so unsteady on her feet she walked into a sofa while they were there.
There were also bruises on her cheek and right shin but were told by Brockhill she had fallen down the stairs.
The murderer told police later what the social worker had said, adding: 'Social services came to see Star, she checked her body, her bedroom, chatted with us about Star, she said the report was malicious.'
On September 15 social services closed the case, indeed concluding the referral had been 'malicious'.
A week later Star was murdered and found with fractures to her shin, ribs and skull.
She had also suffered lacerations to a vein carrying blood between her leg and organs which leaked into her abdominal cavity.
Prosecutor Alistair MacDonald QC said the injuries had been caused by a severe and forceful blow or blows, 'either in the form of punching, stamping or kicking to the abdomen'.
Smith and Brockhill waited 15 minutes after the incident where Star was injured before calling 999.
In that period they searched online for 'How to bring a baby out of shock.'
The jury was shown video footage of Star being shouted at in her home which Mr MacDonald said showed 'there was also a degree of cruelty and psychological harm' inflicted on the youngster.
In one clip, an upset Star is seen being roughly handled by Frankie Smith and a sustained attempt made to make her stand in the corner.
Mr MacDonald said: 'It is inconceivable that any carer would wait 15 minutes to call for professional help when their 16 month-old child was showing symptoms of a medical catastrophe.
'Any innocent carer would have been on the phone within seconds, not 15 minutes.'
He said there had also been two fractures to Star's right leg 'caused by forceful twisting' which had been refractured as they healed.
He also described a fracture to the back of the skull and bruising to Star, 'much of which is considered to be non-accidental in origin'.
The prosecutor said: 'It is also the case that social services, who were aware of Star's case, were kept away from Star, as were many of her family in the last period of her life.'
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