Mother convicted of killing her four-month-old baby girl

A mother has been convicted of killing her four-month-old baby girl who died after being violently shaken.

Melissa Wilband, 28, was found guilty by a jury of the manslaughter of Lexi Wilband who collapsed at their home in Newent, Gloucestershire, in April 2020.

Bristol Crown Court heard tests revealed how Lexi died following bleeding on her brain, likely caused by being violently shaken, both recently and on at least one earlier occasion.

Lexi died at Bristol Children’s Hospital, with a nurse holding her hand, on April 18 – six days after her collapse.

Wilband and her former partner Jack Wheeler, 31, who was charged with causing or allowing Lexi’s death, have been on trial at Bristol Crown Court.

On Wednesday afternoon, a jury unanimously convicted Wilband of manslaughter and unanimously found Mr Wheeler not guilty of the charge against him.

Mr Justice Saini, who sent the jury out to begin their deliberations in the case on Tuesday morning, adjourned sentencing of Wilband until May 22.

He told the jury: “Thank you very much, members of the jury. You have worked very hard throughout this case.”

Mr Wheeler had also been charged with Lexi’s manslaughter but this was formally withdrawn last week after prosecutors offered no evidence against him.

During the trial, jurors were told that Wilband and Mr Wheeler were in a relationship for about three years but Lexi was conceived with another man in early 2019.

However, Wilband told Mr Wheeler, of Ledbury, Herefordshire, that he was the baby’s biological father and presented him with a fake DNA certificate that claimed he was “100%” the “farther” of her then-unborn child.

A genuine DNA test after Lexi’s birth in November 2019 confirmed that Mr Wheeler was not biologically related to her but he remained with Wilband and brought up Lexi as if she were his own child.

Jurors heard how Wilband, who had a volatile relationship with Mr Wheeler, took cocaine just six days after Lexi was born.

It was alleged that she would take the drug in bed, with Lexi in the Moses basket alongside her mother.

On April 12 2020, Wilband made a 111 call from the new-build council house where she lived with Mr Wheeler and Lexi. She claimed Lexi had stopped breathing while in her bouncer chair.

Lexi was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and was intubated, with Wilband asked if she would like to hold her baby before the procedure took place. She declined to do so.

The infant was then transferred to Bristol Children’s Hospital, where Wilband told medics that Mr Wheeler had been carrying Lexi in her bouncer chair and was swinging it.

A decision was made to switch off Lexi’s ventilator on April 17, following the results of an MRI scan.

Jurors were told that Wilband spent three hours with Lexi that evening before leaving to go to sleep in a different part of the hospital.

Prosecuting, Jane Osborne KC said Wilband was aware that her baby might die through the night but did not stay at her bedside.

“A staff nurse held Lexi’s hand through the night and remained with her,” Ms Osborne said.

“On the morning of April 18, Lexi seemed to have longer pauses in her breathing. Ms Wilband was told to attend the ward.

“She arrived just after Lexi had ceased to show any signs of life and had stopped breathing.”

A post-mortem examination gave Lexi’s cause of death as bleeding to the brain, caused by a non-accidental traumatic event such as someone “shaking her violently”, Ms Osborne said.

Further tests found the areas of bleeding in Lexi’s eyes were “too numerous to count”, she added.

Giving evidence, Wilband denied ever shaking Lexi and said she had a “bad wrist” that meant she was physically unable to shake her.

Mr Wheeler said he had no idea why Lexi had collapsed and denied carrying her in the bouncer chair.

Wilband was granted conditional bail and will be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on May 22.

After the verdicts, Mr Wheeler’s family said: “Obviously we are relieved that this trial is over and Jack has been found not guilty on both counts.

“It has been a difficult five years. But we do not forget that a little girl he loved as his own has lost her life.”

Detective Inspector Adam Stacey of Gloucestershire Police, said Wilband would now face the consequence of her actions.

“Melissa Wilband inflicted such serious injuries that were sadly to prove fatal and tragically Lexi passed away six days later, despite the best efforts of all the medical staff who tried to save her,” he said.

“Further medical evidence showed that Lexi had suffered at least one other episode of shaking at some point before this one.

“Wilband told lie after lie after lie – right from Lexi’s conception, and all the way throughout the pregnancy.

“These lies continued and were made to medical professionals trying to save Lexi’s life, to the police, and all the way through to her giving evidence in court.

“The jury saw those lies for what they were.

“Lexi should be five years old now with her whole future ahead of her.

“She was shaken by someone who should have been protecting her.

“Someone who should have put her safety and wellbeing above everything else, her mother.

“Wilband did not do those things and in fact did the exact opposite.

“She now faces the consequences of her actions.”