Doctor ‘cannot accept’ toddler’s fatal injuries were caused by fall
APATHOLOGIST who carried out the post-mortem examination on a toddler who was allegedly murdered in a “frenzied” attack has said he “cannot accept” that all her injuries arose from a fall down the stairs.
Lola James died in hospital on July 21, 2020, after suffering the kind of brain injuries usually seen in highspeed car crashes or falls from a great height.
Her mother’s boyfriend, Kyle Bevan, 31, denies murdering the toddler and claims she died when she was knocked down the stairs by the family’s American bulldog, Jessie.
He is on trial at Swansea Crown Court alongside Lola’s mother, Sinead James, 30, who stands accused of “causing or allowing” her daughter’s death at the home in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. She denies the charge.
Yesterday, Dr Stephen Leadbeatter, who is a senior lecturer in forensic pathology at Cardiff University and is a Home Office pathologist, gave evidence before the jury.
He described areas of “yellowish” bruising he saw on Lola’s head and “dark crusted material” he found in her eyes as well as grazes on her neck.
He also described scratches on Lola’s upper and lower back and areas of yellow discolouration, which he confirmed was bruising by carrying out a dissection.
The court heard of brown/pinkish bruising the pathologist found on Lola’s thighs, including one bruise which was 7cm long on her left leg and bruises on her shins and ankles.
Dr Leadbeatter also told jurors about the scratches he found, about three bruises on Lola’s left forearm, and about yellow bruising on the palm of her left hand. He said upon dissection he found bruising around the shoulder and in the crook of the elbow.
The court also heard that some of the injuries seen in photographs taken of Lola when she was still alive were no longer visible when the pathologist came to do his post-mortem examination.
He also described black/purple bruising he found under the skin of the little girl’s forehead and scalp, bruising in the deep tissue around the eyes and at the side of her head, and “streaky bleeding” in some facial muscles.
He also said he found bleeding to the left side of the brain.
Prosecutor Caroline Rees KC asked him: “Did you find any evidence of injuries consistent with being caused by a paw, claw, or bite?” The witness replied: “I did not.”
The court heard Lola’s cause of death was subdural haematoma and swelling of the brain.
Dr Leadbeatter said he visited the house in Haverfordwest where the incident took place and saw the staircase in question, watched police officers’ bodycam footage of the scene, and read accounts of what had happened given by the defendants.
He confirmed he saw photographs of Lola from before the incident, as well as photographs and videos found on Bevan’s phone taken after the incident.
Asked for his conclusion, the pathologist said that given all the material he has seen, the visit to the property, and the studies he has read “I do not consider that the account given to date of how Lola James came to be injured can be regarded as a complete explanation for the findings on the body – I cannot accept that the totality of injuries has arisen from a fall down stairs”.
On Tuesday the court heard evidence from Dr Nicola Drake, an emergency medicine consultant at Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest.
She told the court she was on call the night the little girl was brought in. She told jurors that she took an account of what happened from Bevan, who claimed he was making cereal in the kitchen when Lola fell down the stairs.
Dr Drake told the court she took notes of his account as he provided it in the hospital. She said he started to become angry and asked whether the information he was giving was confidential.
“I advised him that it would be shared with external agencies such as social services and that I had a statutory duty, a legal duty, given how serious the injuries were,” Dr Drake said.
“He said: ‘If you take one step out of this room with those notes I will rip them out of your hand.’”
Bevan, of Aberystwyth, and James, of Neyland, deny the charges.
The trial continues.