'Make change happen': Family of toddler murdered by her mother's partner fight for new child protection law

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Maya Chappell was just two-years-old when she was tragically shaken to death by Michael Daymond in 2022, on the same day he learned his Universal Credit payments would be stopped.

The "gorgeous and bubbly" tot was attacked by Daymond following a period of sustained abuse which his partner and mother of Maya, Dana Carr, turned a "blind eye" to.

Maya's great aunt, Gemma Chappell, 48, is now preparing to head to Westminster to hear a debate on "Maya's Law," proposed legislation which would notify families if their child is at risk due to a parent or caregiver's known criminal history.

Daymond, then 27, was jailed for life in December 2023 after being convicted of Maya's murder. Carr, then 24, was sentenced for nine years for allowing her death.

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100,000 signature petition

Gemma, who is the aunt of Maya's biological father James, has long campaigned to ensure Maya's Law is enacted and has since secured 100,000 signatures to her petition to call the debate.

The law would involve sharing information to a parent or guardian where a child is at risk due to a parent or caregiver's known history.

Gemma, a police officer with Durham Constabulary, believes Maya would still be alive today had a similar law being in place then.

Explaining the proposal, she told LBC: "We already have Claire's Law which is for adult intimate partner relationships.

"If somebody's in a relationship with another person and someone's got concerns about that person or that person that's in the relationship does, they can ask for that first law and then get a disclosure if there's one there.

"Sarah's Law works very similarly, but that's for child sexual offences offences, which works alongside the child sex register.

"Essentially Maya's Law will be in the middle of those for child abuse and neglect, and we're asking services to act on any concerns a parent may have."

Injuries inflicted before Maya's death

Before Maya was murdered, her father James had raised concerns after noticing marks on her body but his queries were dismissed by Carr.

The family appealed for a Clare's Law, but Gemma said that local police closed the case after Carr allegedly lied to officers and told them that she was no longer with Daymond and so no formal disclosure was made.

During the trial, Teesside Crown Court heard the killer got together with Carr in July 2022, nine weeks before Maya was killed at the end of that September.

The court heard Maya sustained "highly suspicious" injuries consisting of bruises all over her body in the lead up to her death.

Prosecutors said that Carr had turned a blind eye to the abuse and that the youngster was terrified of Daymond to the extent that she was filmed trying to crawl under the family TV to get away from him.

Maya had been left alone with Daymond at their home in Shotton Colliery, County Durham, when Carr went to work on September 28, 2023.

That day, he had learned his Universal Credit had been stopped, and he repeatedly tried to call the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), as well as browsing history showing he had visited their website.

At 3.37pm he phoned Carr to tell her to come home and seconds later, he dialled 999. Emergency services arrived shortly afterwards to find Maya unconscious

Daymond was even seen to call the DWP again when paramedics were fighting to save Maya but her injuries were catastrophic, with the youngster succumbing of her injuries two days later.

Tot was 'let down'

Gemma went on: "We're not going to stop every case, but if we can put a family in a good position to know, to be able to go and get that help and, you know, get that information out there, then that's great.

"But of course, Maya was let down. Dana went to seek help from the doctor. The doctor didn't ask any questions, and didn't have that professional curiosity to say who's at home.

"They could have put the dots together to say 'she's got a child,' and ask how that daughter is looked after?

"Dana was completely obsessed [with Daymond]. To give an indication of what her mindset was like, he texted her to say 'you best get home, Maya's collapsed,' and her text message back was, 'I'm sorry, I love you, don't leave us.'

"And whilst she was in hospital with Maya and he was in caught in police cells, she thought he was released and she was dying to get home to go and see him and his daughter."

Maya was found to have sustained a blunt force assault likely caused by shaking , as well as a blunt force impact to the head and blows to her abdomen.

The injuries to her head, neck and torso were believed to have occurred in the moments before her collapse, a pathologist told the trial.

Gemma said: "They used Maya as a handbag essentially. Michael took his frustrations out on Maya because he didn't have no money to get his drugs and to be.

"A two-year-old can't protect herself.

'Not a one-off event'

"I definitely think if the police had gone out that day, they would have seen that Michael was there, that Dana was lying and they should have had the professional curiosity to ask them questions of why she's lying.

"They would have seen that Maya was absolutely petrified of him.

"Three seconds after coming off the call from 999 he phoned DWP to see where his payments was. That's not normal behaviour.

"This was not a one-off event."

Gemma added: "Under Maya's Law, we would have as mandatory information sharing between services, and a multi-agency risk discussion around what is needs to be done to protect the child.

"Then there would be a clear decision point so that the disclosure could be given to the safe parent or carer rather than saying 'oh well we believe that child lives with that person so we'll give it to them.'

"My message to MPs is that change happens with the first conversation so let's make it.

"Let's make it that debate day and let's make change happen. That's what I would say for them."

'Bubbly little child'

Paying tribute to Maya, Gemma described her great niece as "such a happy little child."

She said: "She was just absolutely gorgeous. She was such a bubbly little child who loved life. She loved the park, she loved cake and food and she's always pinching someone's food.

"But she had such a love for life. If we would take her out, she would just be off with the other kids or she'd be off in the park and she'd just be a happy little child and she was always doing something.

"She was she was definitely a daddy's girl. If, if James was in the room, you would just not get a look in.

"She just had a love for life."

MPs will hold the debate on Monday April 13.