My baby’s cry was a scream, mother tells second inquest
THE mother of Poppi Worthington broke down in court yesterday as she recalled how she heard her “bubbly, funny” daughter scream out just moments before her death.
As a second inquest began, almost five years after Poppi’s death and following a litany of failings by police and officials that have denied justice to the 13-month-old, the court heard the desperate 999 call made by the mother as her daughter lay lifeless in front of her.
The mother frequently broke down and held her head in her hands as she recalled the lead-up to her daughter’s death, during which a High Court judge has previously ruled that it was likely she had been sexually abused by Paul Worthington, her father.
Remembering the morning of Poppi’s death on Dec 12 2012 the mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had been woken by her cry and believed that it was around 5.45am.
“It was different, it was louder, it was more like a scream,” she said. The night before she had put Poppi to bed at 7.30pm with her bottle, the pink elephant pillow she would not settle without, her pink “blankey” and a Hello Kitty blanket.
She later checked on her daughter in her cot, before she went downstairs with Poppi’s twin who had a cold and spent the night on the sofa. The next thing she heard was her daughter scream, followed by a creak of the floorboards outside her own bedroom.
She went back to sleep then Mr Worthington came to look for a nappy, then after another doze he came into the room with Poppi’s lifeless body.
The mother was too upset to stay in the courtroom to listen to her 999 call. She could be heard crying and begging “come on Poppi, please” as Mr Worthington administered CPR. In floods of tears she told the operator: “She is not breathing, she is not breathing.”
During the night Mr Worthington had taken his daughter into his bed, something the mother said that had never happened before as she was “too little” and could have suffocated. The pathologist raised concerns that she had been abused. The pyjama bottoms that Poppi had been wearing before her death have “never been found”, the mother said. Her nappy had been thrown in the bin as the police failed to secure evidence at the scene.
Poppi was generally in good health, her mother said, choking back tears as she remembered that she had “just started to walk”. The mother was 27 when she became pregnant with Poppi and her twin. She lived in a three-bedroom home in Barrow-in-furness with her six children and Mr Worthington would live there part-time as their relationship was “up and down”.
She had at the time said: “There is no way Paul could have harmed Poppi, the children are his world.” Mr Worthington, 49, will be called to give evidence before Cumbria Coroner’s Court in Kendal tomorrow.
He has denied any wrongdoing and the CPS concluded last year that there was “insufficient evidence” to bring any charges in relation to the death. The case continues.