Mum of Maya Chappell had 'no reason' to believe her boyfriend would hurt her

The mother of a two-year-old girl who died after suffering serious injuries at her home in County Durham has described the man on trial for her murder as an "all round nice guy".

Dana Carr, whose daughter Maya Chappell died in 2022, is on trial for child cruelty and allowing the death of her child, while her boyfriend Michael Daymond is accused of murder.

Carr, 24, who denies the charges, told Teesside Crown Court she had no reason to believe Daymond would hurt her daughter.

Daymond denies the charge and is also standing trial at Teesside Crown Court.

Maya was injured at her home in Shotton Colliery last September and died in hospital.

Giving evidence, Carr told jurors her boyfriend was a lovely and caring man who treated Maya as his own.

However, she also told the court that she may not have known the real Daymond at all and added that sitting alongside him in the dock had made her feel "physically sick".

Prosecutors have accused Carr of allowing Maya to die at Daymond's hands because she was infatuated with him.

In evidence today, she said that "no matter" how much she had liked him then, she would "never have put her daughter in a situation that would hurt her."

The court has heard that in the weeks before Maya's death, Carr's stepfather had sent her a picture of bruises he had seen on her body and voiced concerns.

When questioned by prosecutors about why she did not act on it, Carr said she had no reason to believe Daymond was causing harm.

She told jurors that in the nine weeks of their relationship, she had noticed a change in Maya's development and had gone from reciting nursery rhymes to one word answers.

She said she had enquired about booking a health visitor appointment to assess Maya but that it was never made.

Carr said it was only in the days before Maya's death, when she spoke to doctors at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, that she found out her daughter was being allegedly abused and they believed her injuries were "done on purpose".

She added, "If I knew Michael Daymond was going to murder my child I would have never left for work."

Carr and Daymond deny the charges against them.

The trial continues.