Woman who killed her baby by violently shaking her during Covid-19 lockdown is jailed
A woman who killed her baby by violently shaking her during the first Covid-19 lockdown is jailed.
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Melissa Wilband, 28, was found guilty by a jury of the manslaughter of four-month-old Lexi Wilband in April 2020.
Bristol Crown Court previously heard that the baby died following bleeding on her brain, which was likely caused by being violently shaken, both recently and on at least one earlier occasion.
Lexi died at Bristol Children's Hospital on 18 April 2020 - six days after collapsing.
Mr Justice Saini told Wilband: "You killed Lexi by violently shaking her at the family home in Newent.
"Lexi was killed by you when the country was in the first national COVID-19 lockdown."
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The judge told the court that after an evening meal, Wilband had shaken Lexi while bathing her.
"Immediately after this," he said, "she went floppy".
He continued: "Your shaking of Lexi led to severe bleeding in her brain. I am sure on the evidence that Lexi had been shaken by you in another, less violent, incident before that Easter Sunday.
"Only you will know why you acted in the way you did. It is hard to imagine the pain that Lexi must have suffered both from the past violence and the violence that led to her death.
"She would have cried out in anguish."
Wilband denied ever shaking Lexi, telling the court she had a "bad wrist" and so was unable to physically shake the baby - as she appeared to blame her former partner, Jack Wheeler.
Mr Wheeler, 31, was acquitted of causing or allowing Lexi's death.
Charges of manslaughter against him were withdrawn during the trial after prosecutors offered no evidence.
The court heard that on 12 April 2020, Wilband made a non-emergency 111 call and claimed Lexi had stopped breathing while in her bouncer chair.
After Lexi was intubated at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, Wilband told doctors that Mr Wheeler had been carrying Lexi in her bouncer chair and was swinging it - an accusation he denied during the trial.
On 17 April, after the results of an MRI scan, it was decided that Lexi's ventilator would be switched off.
Prosecuting, Jane Osborne KC, said Wilband was aware that her baby might die during the night - but did not stay at Lexi's bedside.
Ms Osborne said a post-mortem examination gave Lexi's cause of death as bleeding to the brain, caused by a non-accidental traumatic event such as someone "shaking her violently".
She added that further tests found the areas of bleeding in Lexi's eyes are "too numerous to count".
Jurors also heard during that trial that Wilband and Mr Wheeler were in a relationship for about three years but Lexi was conceived with another man in early 2019.
Wilband presented a fake DNA certificate confirming Mr Wheeler as the father.
However, a later genuine DNA test in November 2019 showed he was not Lexi's father.
Mr Wheeler chose to stay with Wilband and raise the baby as his own child.
The trial also heard the couple had a volatile relationship and Wilband took cocaine six days after she gave birth to Lexi.
Ann Hampshire, from the CPS, said: "Every professional she's spoken to - the Probation Service, the psychologist - she's maintained her denial and stated she wants to appeal."