Ex-nursery worker could have sentence for allowing daughter’s death increased

A woman who wheeled her daughter’s body around in a pram could have her sentence for allowing the youngster’s death increased at the Court of Appeal as “unduly lenient”.

Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell, 24, was jailed for 10 years in December last year after pleading guilty to child cruelty and causing or allowing the death of her two-year-old daughter, Isabella Wheildon, at the hands of her partner, Scott Jeff.

The pair then continued to wheel Isabella’s body around in a pushchair before leaving her in a bathroom at a hostel for the homeless in Ipswich in June 2023.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Garnham described the former nursery worker as a “weak and spineless person” who “stood back and let that abuse and violence happen to your little girl”.

But Gleason-Mitchell’s sentence could now be increased after Solicitor General Lucy Rigby agreed to refer the case to the Court of Appeal following a request from shadow safeguarding minister Alicia Kearns.

In a letter to Ms Kearns, Ms Rigby said she was “shocked and deeply saddened” by the “horrific crime”, and had decided there were “sufficient legal grounds to conclude that the sentence would likely be increased by the Court of Appeal”.

Ms Kearns said: “Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell failed to protect her child from Scott Jeff, who horrifically abused and brutally murdered her child.

“No punishment will ever make up for their heinous actions, let alone their depraved behaviour in the days following her murder visiting the pub and pushing her lifeless body around the shops.

“I thank the Solicitor General for accepting my request to refer Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell’s paltry sentence to the Court of Appeal as unduly lenient.

“Isabella Wheildon did not deserve the awful abuse that she suffered: 36 days of beatings and being given drugs. Her killers deserve to never see the light of day again.

“Any spineless individual who stands by as a child is murdered should spend decades behind bars. I hope the Court of Appeal will agree and finally give Isabella the justice she deserves.”

Jeff, also 24, was convicted of Isabella’s murder and handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 26 years for what the judge described as a “cruel campaign of violence and abuse which ended in her death”.

Ms Kearns had also asked for Jeff’s sentence to be reviewed, but the Solicitor General declined to refer his case to the Court of Appeal, saying it did not meet the “very high” threshold for a review.

The Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme allows any member of the public to ask the Attorney General’s Office to review a sentence they believe is too lenient.

If the Law Officers – the Attorney General and Solicitor General – agree the sentence appears unduly lenient, they can ask the Court of Appeal to review the sentence.

It is then up to the Court of Appeal to decide whether to hear the case and, if it does, whether the sentence should be increased.