Father won custody of girl, 4, to get benefits ...then beat her to death
A FATHER who fought win custody of his four-year-old daughter so he could claim more benefits beat her to death just two months later, a court heard yesterday.
Carl Wheatley admitted killing Alexa-Marie Quinn in March last year after the local authority granted him custody from foster parents – but denies it was murder.
The ‘ frustrated’ supermarket worker lost his temper and delivered a ‘sustained period of hard beating’ to the youngster, his trial heard.
Wheatley, 30, claimed he called an ambulance two minutes after AlexaMarie stopped breathing, but the prosecution said she could have been dead for hours. St Albans Crown Court was told that in the weeks before her death, Wheatley had beaten his daughter multiple times and knocked out two of her teeth.
Jurors heard that he made internet searches for ‘ how to reduce swelling’ and ‘what glue can I use to put teeth back in’. In the early hours of the morning Alexa-Marie died, he searched for ‘what effects can internal bleeding cause’ and ‘can lots of bruising get infected’.
Prosecutor Christopher Donnellan QC said Wheatley fought for custody of Alexa-Marie so he could claim more benefits and be pro- vided with better accommodation. He was also fighting for access to his three-year-old son by another woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
When Alexa-Marie was due to go back to nursery school after half term in February, Wheatley lied and told staff he was in Leeds and his car had broken down.
Mr Donnellan said: ‘In the weeks before she died he hit her hard and he hit her more and more.
‘He went to considerable lengths to avoid Alexa-Marie being seen by anyone. He knew at the time
‘He hit her more and more’
what he was doing and that he was causing her harm.’ Describing AlexaMarie’s death on March 12 last year, Mr Donnellan added: ‘He lost his temper with her. This wasn’t just a single blow, this was a sustained period of hard beating of her.’
Wheatley hit his daughter with such force that fat was released into her bloodstream and blocked her lungs, the court heard.
He called the emergency services just after 9am. Wheatley, who has ADHD, cried in the dock as the 999 call was played in court, in which he told the operator: ‘ She’s drowned in fluid, she might have internal fluid on her lungs. She needs an ambulance right away.
‘I’ve had her for a few months, I got a bit frustrated with her and I harmed the poor child.
‘I’m being honest with you, I need to think about my child.’
Alexa- Marie had lived with Wheatley in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, since December 30, 2013.
Before then, she had been in the care of foster parents for several years after being taken from her mother Victoria Quinn.
The jury also heard that Bedford Borough Council had dismissed a claim by Alexa-Marie that her father had slapped her a month before she moved in with him. Hayley Allen, a Hertfordshire County Council social worker who was responsible for Wheatley’s son, said a colleague told her that ‘a decision had been made by Bedford Borough Council that AlexaMarie had made a mistake and he only touched her face and did not assault her. Subsequently contact between them was reinstated.’
She described Wheatley as ‘extremely hard to handle’ and said he would lose his temper if he did not get the response he wanted, adding: ‘He would scream and shout at me down the phone.’
Colleagues said Wheatley, an Asda stockroom filler, was ‘a little strange’. Wheatley denies murder but admits manslaughter by reasons of diminished responsibility.
The trial continues.