A man has been accused of inflicting fatal head injuries to his girlfriend’s young daughter while she went to work.

Michael Daymond called emergency services when he found Maya Louise Chappell ‘gasping for breath’ in her County Durham home last September.

The two-year-old was flown to the RVI hospital in Newcastle but died two days later without ever regaining consciousness.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Maya’s mother, Dana Carr, is accused of allowing the death of a child after she failed to stop Daymond from hurting the toddler.

Read next: Man jailed after sending indecent images to police decoy posed as 14-year-old

The court was shown two short video clips of the two-year-old Daymond recorded where she is clearly upset, trying to back away into a small box shaped opening in a room tidy cabinet.

The Northern Echo: Maya ChappellMaya Chappell (Image: Contributor)

Benjamin Nolan KC, prosecuting, told the court that the footage was recorded shortly before the youngster suffered her fatal head injuries.

He said: "He then sent the video clip to Carr and to Carr's stepfather, a man named Chris Fellows. Carr responds by a text saying “wtf”, ie, “what the f***”. There then followed a number of calls and texts between the couple."

Phone records between the co-accused show that Daymond told Carr that Maya was 'seriously ill' before he called 999.

Mr Nolan said: "In the seconds and minutes that follow, as the emergency services were dispatched to the scene, Carr attempted to call Daymond several times unsuccessfully at first but then successfully.

"She also managed to text him. She sent him messages to the effect “I’m coming”, “please don’t leave me” and “are you ok”. Not a single message asking about Maya."

Jurors heard how concerns had been raised by family members after Maya was spotted with bruising to her face and body in the weeks leading up to her death.

The court heard how Carr started a relationship with her co-accused, Daymond, in the summer of 2022 and they moved in together at the end of August.

The Northern Echo: Tributes paid to Maya Chappell following her death in September 2022.Tributes paid to Maya Chappell following her death in September 2022. (Image: The Northern Echo)

Five weeks later the toddler suffered the fatal head injuries at the hands of Daymond, Mr Nolan said.

"There was nobody else in the house at the time. The injuries are of such a nature and degree they couldn’t possibly have been caused by any accident and they couldn’t conceivably have been self-inflicted,” he added.

"Furthermore, no adult could commit such acts upon a defenceless two-year-old with anything less than an intention to cause at least really serious injury."

Mr Nolan said Maya’s father, James Chappell, had been so concerned about injuries he saw on his daughter’s body that he contacted Durham Constabulary under Sarah’s law asking for them to research Daymond to see if they were aware of any past domestic violence history.

Carr was infatuated with her boyfriend, turned a “blind eye” to what was going on, and misled people around her about what was going on, the court was told.

Dealing with Maya’s injuries, the barrister said: "The joint opinion of all the doctors is that the constellation of pathological findings demonstrate Maya had been subjected to a blunt force assault likely comprising shaking and a blunt force impact or impacts to the head and forceful blows to the abdomen.

Read more:

​​Get all the latest crime and court updates, for less than the price of a coffee, with a Premium Plus digital subscription to The Northern Echo. Click here

"The doctors agree the totality of the injuries are not compatible with Maya suffering an accidental fall from a bed onto a carpeted floor but were readily accounted for by some form of deliberately inflicted force."

Daymond, formerly of Shotton Colliery, pleaded not guilty to murder and a second charge of cruelty to a child.

Twenty-four-year-old Carr, also formerly of Shotton Colliery, denies child cruelty and allowing the death of a child.

The trial continues.