BABY WHO NEVER STOOD A CHANCE
Adoptive father left to murder girl despite 15 visits from social workers — and shocking injuries missed by NHS
SOCIAL workers and medical staff missed a series of chances to save a baby murdered by the father allowed to adopt her, it emerged yesterday.
Matthew Scully-Hicks, 31, shook 18-month- old Elsie to death before smacking her head against a floor or wall less than a fortnight after the adoption was formally granted.
The fitness instructor had subjected Elsie to seven months of assaults and beatings while his husband Craig, a company director, was away on business. In a series of text messages, he had described the girl as ‘Satan in a baby grow’, ‘The Exorcist’ and a ‘psycho’, while neighbours heard him bellowing expletives at her when she was crying.
Yet, despite visiting the family’s home 15 times in the months before Elsie’s adoption, the abuse went unnoticed by social workers.
Medical staff failed to spot the significance of a string of injuries which could have alerted them
ELSIE’S short life began on November 17, 2014. After her birth she was taken from her drug addict mother and put in the care of Vale of Glamorgan Council. On September 10, 2015, she came to live with the Craig and Matt Scully-Hicks. FRACTURED LEG
NOVEMBER 5, 2015: Elsie fractures right leg while with Matt Scully-Hicks. He tells Craig she fell from a toy table.
NOVEMBER 9, 2015: Elsie is seen by her GP for the injured leg. Scully-Hicks twists his story, saying she injured herself falling while using a baby walker. THIGH BONE FRACTURE
NOVEMBER 12, 2015: Elsie’s leg is Xrayed but doctors miss a second fractured thigh bone that could only have been caused by ‘significant trauma’.
Instead doctors only find a minor fracture on her right leg. Doctors believe Matt Scully-Hicks’s account and Elsie is sent home in a leg cast. After Elsie’s death, the X-ray is looked at again and second injury is spotted.
Expert Dr Sarah Harrison tells the court it was the sort of injury caused by a child running and falling with force. Elsie could not run at this age. She says the fracture could only have been caused by ‘significant trauma’.
The two fractures could only have resulted from something as severe as a car crash or a major fall. BRUISED FOREHEAD DECEMBER 16, 2015: Elsie bruised on her left forehead. It lasts eight weeks. Matt Scully-Hicks tells Craig that Elsie ‘whacked’ her head on a toy table.
Prosecutor Paul Lewis QC asks why the bruise was vertical in appearance if she had fallen against the horizontal edge of the unit DECEMBER 17, 2015: Adoption officials visit the couple.
DECEMBER 21, 2015: Matt Scully-Hicks lies to health visitor Jodie Golten that a GP has examined the bruise. He offers a ‘plausible explanation’ for the injury. However, it later transpires there is no record of him seeing a GP.
Miss Golten writes in her notes: ‘She appears to have a lovely bond growing with Matt. Both giving lovely eye contact and playing together.’ SECOND BRUISE ON FACE
JANUARY 18, 2016: Scully-Hicks sends his husband Craig a video of Elsie over WhatsApp. It clearly shows a fresh bruise overlaying the last one. Again, there is no record of Elsie being seen by a GP at this time. Craig did not appear to raise any concerns. 999 HOSPITAL VISIT
MARCH 10, 2016: Elsie is taken to hospital. Matt Scully-Hicks claims she fell ‘head over heels’ down the stairs after opening a baby gate. He calls an ambulance but does not reveal there was blood in her vomit or that she couldn’t sit up for 20 minutes. Elsie discharged after four hours.
The two men claim Elsie was never the same after this fall and believe a CT scan at this time would have detected health problems.
APRIL 16, 2016: They move to a new house in Cardiff. APRIL 2016: Elsie develops a squint in her left eye. Craig takes her to see GP Dr Ruth Stone. She describes Elsie as a ‘normal, happy child’. She is referred to an eye clinic but has not been seen by the time she died. MAY 6, 2016: Matt Scully-Hicks takes Elsie to routine appointment with paediatrician Dr Paul Davies. He tells jurors Scully-Hicks appeared frustrated. MAY 12, 2016: Elsie is formally adopted by the Matt and Craig Scully-Hicks. LEG, SKULL AND RIB FRACTURES, BRAIN DAMAGE
MAY 25, 2016: Matt Scully-Hicks calls 999 at 6.20pm and Elsie is rushed to hospital after becoming unresponsive.
Her injuries are similar to those caused by a car crash, the court heard. Medical staff find she has fractures to her leg, skull and to three ribs.
She also has bleeding to three parts of her brain as well as haemorrhages to both eyes. Consultant paediatrician Dr Stephen Rose says he believes the fractures to Elsie’s ribs are likely to have been caused by ‘an adult’s hand … compressing the chest forcibly’.
Dr David Tuthill, who examines Elsie at A&E, reports Matt Scully-Hicks to police because of his ‘very calm’ and ‘strange’ behaviour.
MAY 27, 2016: MRI scan reveals bleeding on both sides of the brain.
MAY 29, 2016: Elsie dies.