Couple abused Ayeeshia Smith 'for fun', friend tells ITV News

• By ITV News Correspondent Ben Chapman

A friend of the mother convicted of Ayeeshia Smith's murder has told ITV News she would hit her so hard marks were left on her face.

Ayeeshia, who was 21 months old, died in May 2014 following months of abuse at the hands of Kathryn Smith, 23.

Smith was convicted of murder and child cruelty. Her former partner Matthew Rigby was found guilty of causing or allowing Ayeeshia's death but cleared of murder and child cruelty.

Naomi Pantall lived in the flat opposite Smith, who described her as Ayeeshia’s "godmother".

She told ITV News: “It wasn’t a tap, and it wasn’t a smack. It was more like a ‘belt’, to the point where, when’s you’ve slapped someone and it’s white round the edges and you can see the shape of what’s slapped them: a hand on her face, or her bum or her legs.”

Ayeeshia, who was also known as AJ, had previously been in foster care because of her mother’s previous relationship with an abusive partner. Miss Pantall says she watched the toddler deteriorate when she was returned to Smith in October 2013.

Smith began her relationship with Matthew Rigby a month later.

“She would have been better in care. She would have been better anywhere because it was like she was a little ghost walking around.

“They would be smoking weed, doing drugs, having people around drinking, arguing in front of her. Kat would say horrible things like, ‘It would be easier if she wasn’t here. It would be easier if she wasn’t with me.’”

After Ayeeshia’s death, a post-mortem examination revealed she’d suffered three broken ribs and a lacerated heart, consistent with having been stamped on.

Miss Pantal says she had seen the couple stamp their feet next to the toddler before.

“AJ would just be minding her own business, watching TV, drinking some juice, doing whatever, and Kat or Matt would say ‘Look at this, watch this’ and just stamp their feet.

“And AJ would obviously jump, like, ‘Woah, what’s that?’ She was petrified. And they would laugh and think it was funny, that she was that scared of her own mum.”

The court heard that social services had been involved in Ayeeshia’s life since her birth, and that social workers visited the family regularly, including six times in the month before she died. Health visitors had noticed she was losing weight, and had hair loss that was diagnosed as alopecia.

“She’d lost her hair, she’d lost weight, she’d lost colour,” says Miss Pantall. “You could just see, it was like the life had just been drained out of her.

“If they couldn’t see the baby that AJ was turning into, then they shouldn’t be working with children.”

Miss Pantall says did not tell social services about her concerns because she felt Ayeeshia needed her help. She was worried Smith would cut off access to the toddler, but now regrets her decision.

“Some of the signs that didn’t quite add up then, add up now. Obviously I didn’t know the degree to which it was happening, but I knew it was happening.

“Kat would always say, ‘I’m just having a bad time, it’s just me, I will get better, I will think about AJ. Things are going to get better.’ And I believed her.”