Stare of a baby killer
Date published: 29 October 2010
TRAGIC tot Violet Mullen was battered to death by her mum’s violent new boyfriend just weeks after she moved him in to spite an ex-lover.
Claire Flanagan (22) was yesterday found guilty of causing or allowing Violet’s death and her boyfriend Gary Alcock (28) was convicted of murder following a four-week trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Alcock, who has previous convictions for violence towards an ex-girlfriend, showed no emotion on hearing the verdict while Flanagan burst into tears.
Members of the jury, who deliberated for seven hours, sobbed as they listened to the verdicts being read out.
The pair were remanded in custody for three weeks until sentencing on Thursday, November 18.
The 15-month-old tot was subjected to repeated beatings at her home in Huddersfield Road, Waterhead, after Flanagan got together with steroid abuser Alcock in revenge for being dumped by the man she believed was Violet’s father.
On January 12, Violet was admitted to the Royal Oldham Hospital with multiple injuries similar to those of a high-speed car crash and pronounced dead shortly after.
Doctors discovered Violet had 39 different injuries, 16 of which were on her head, face and neck. A post-mortem examination revealed she was forcefully punched or stamped on in the abdomen up to an hour before her death.
Inquiries revealed Flanagan had moved Alcock in just 48 hours after she started dating him when he split up with his girlfriend.
She had earlier had a string of affairs with men she met through internet dating sites as part of a “desperate campaign to be loved”.
Neighbours testified that they would hear “shouting, yelling and screaming” from the property three or four times a week after Alcock moved in.
During the 999 call made on January 12, Flanagan could be heard crying hysterically in the background as Alcock calmly speaks to paramedics.
When the ambulance crew arrived at the house they found that Violet was “to all intents and purposes already dead” and covered in bruises after the fatal blows caused internal bleeding which led to vital organs shutting down.
She sustained two fractured ribs in an incident three weeks before her death and had suffered injuries akin to a TV being dropped on her chest.
Flanagan later told police she had gone out on the day of Violet’s death, leaving the tot at home with Alcock.
She returned at about 5.45pm and Alcock told her that Violet had been sick but was feeling better.
She also claimed she never loved Alcock but moved him in and considered letting him adopt Violet to ‘’get back’’ at an ex-boyfriend for leaving her.
Alcock said he had been changing Violet’s nappy earlier in the evening and she had appeared well, but when he checked on her later she seemed ‘’spaced out’’ and her lips were blue and cold.
Alcock’s former partner, Tanya Marshall (25), told the court how he had been possessive and controlling and would turn violent during rows in their eight-year relationship.
Vanessa Thomson, senior crown advocate for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “In the opinion of the Home Office pathologist, Violet must have been subjected to a severe blow or blows delivered in the form of punches, kicks or stamps.
“The jury has found that Gary Alcock was responsible for the murder of Violet Mullen and that Claire Flanagan, Violet’s mother, ignored the obvious signs of abuse and failed her wholly dependant daughter by doing so.
“This has been a tragic case which has had a devastating effect upon all of those who knew and loved Violet. Our thoughts are with those who are left to deal with the consequences of this little girl’s death.”
