Mum convicted of child cruelty after failing to protect twin boys from monstrous stepdad who beat one to death

A mum of a murdered toddler walked out of court after she was found guilty of child cruelty for failing to protect her twin boys from their monstrous stepdad.
Ashleigh Willett, 25, was bailed after a jury agreed she failed to secure medical assistance for her two-year-old boys Teddy and Cassidy Tilston.

Teddy was beaten to death by his stepdad Craig Smith, 28, who suffered a "catalogue of injuries" including massive internal bleeding after being hit in the stomach.
Willett sobbed in the public gallery as Smith - who was also in tears - was convicted of Teddy's murder on a majority decision of 11-1 and led to the cells.
The jury also found that Willett had failed her twins by ignoring their injuries before Teddy was killed at the family's home, the Liverpool Echo reports.

 

Teddy Tilston, aged two, had suffered dozens of injuries, a court heard (Image: LIVERPOOL ECHO)

 

Mum Ashleigh Willett, 25, leaves court after being bailed (Image: Liverpool Echo)

The part-time hairdresser sobbed and hugged her mum at Liverpool Crown Court after being released on bail ahead of her sentencing next month.
Smith was sentenced to a minimum of 17 years.
During the trial the jury heard Teddy had an “extraordinary” 42 visible injuries on his body after his death on March 1, plus an old bleed to the brain and an older injury to his abdomen.
Cassidy had been taken to hospital from the home in in Woodville Road, Birkenhead, earlier on the day of Teddy’s death with a head injury, which Smith claimed was caused by her running into a dining room table.

Willett was working at the time, but left to take Cassidy to the hospital.
Medical evidence revealed some of the bruising on Teddy’s body was around two to three days old, casting doubt on Willett’s claims she never noticed any serious injuries on her son.
But perhaps more ominously for Willett a skeletal survey revealed that Cassidy had a fractured wrist, which had never been treated despite being between one and six months old.
Despite Willett claiming she “always put the kids first,” text messages showed a woman desperate to buy cannabis, despite being in rent arrears and in £3,000 of debt.
The court heard the couple spent around £60-£80 per week on the drug, while a home-made Ribena bottle ‘bong’ and six cannabis cigarettes were found by a rear annex.
During the trial, Nick Johnson, QC, prosecuting, told the jury: “Such is the number of injuries to both children that Ashleigh Willett must have known that the children were being ill-treated.

 

Willett failed to secure medical assistance for her two-year-old boys (Image: Liverpool Echo)

 

Smith was sentenced to a minimum of 17 years in jail 

“Her consequent failure to protect the children amounts to her exposing the children to that ill-treatment in a manner likely to cause the children unnecessary suffering or injury to health.”
Following the verdicts Richard Riley, Senior Crown Prosecutor with MerseyCheshire Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This has been a difficult and tragic case involving the use of extreme violence against two very small children, leading to the death of one of them.
“After Teddy Tilston’s death had been recorded at Arrowe Park Hospital, a paediatrician examined his body.

 

A police officer outside the home in Woodville Road, Birkenhead, after the murder 

“She found a catalogue of injuries which in her view were not reasonably explained as accidents. The same paediatrician had also earlier examined his twin sister.
“She too had many injuries which couldn’t be explained as accidents - not least a broken wrist which she had suffered possibly three to six months earlier.
“The Crown Prosecution Service said that, while bumps and bruises are a normal part of childhood, these two children were 25 months old and had so many more injuries than is normal for a toddler, that we could be sure that they were on the receiving end of violent treatment at the hands of one or other or both these defendants.

 

A forensic officer leaves the house after police were alerted in March (Image: Liverpool Echo)

“Neither Craig Smith nor Ashley Willett could give a satisfactory account for the catalogue of injuries suffered by the twins. The CPS said that, even if we assume that all the injuries were caused by Mr Smith, such was the number of injuries to both children that Ms Willett must have known that the children were being ill-treated.
“The Crown Prosecution Service prosecuted them both for their parts in this dreadful series of events. They denied their guilt throughout but the jury has dismissed their lies and excuses and found them guilty.”