The grandmother of a toddler who was killed by her daughter and new boyfriend was concerned when he started bathing her alone, a court has heard.

Alexandra Walker, 25, and Harrison Simpson, 22, who Walker had known only a few months, are accused of the murder and sexual assault of two-year-old Isabelle Welsh.

The toddler collapsed at her home in Thornaby, Teesside, on September 13 last year having suffered a ‘massive head injury,’ Teesside Crown Court has been told.

In the weeks leading up to her death she suffered 21 separate broken bones and was allegedly sexually assaulted.

Giving evidence for the prosecution on Thursday, Walker’s mother, Claire Walker, said she believed her daughter ‘idolised’ Isabelle but was growing concerned about how poorly her granddaughter looked in the days before her death.

The court heard both mother and grandmother had concerns about Simpson bathing Isabelle when no one else was present.

Mark McKone KC, representing her daughter, asked Ms Walker whether ‘Alexandra had asked your advice about Harrison putting Isabelle in the bath.’

Mrs Walker said: ‘I don’t think she had a choice because he did it when she was out.

‘He bathed her when she [Walker] was in the hospital. She told me about it. I said, “don’t let him bath her again. Only a mother should do that.”’

The court also heard Ms Walker’s video interview with police shortly after Isabelle’s death.

She said that around 48 hours before Isabelle collapsed at home, Ms Walker was visiting her granddaughter and became concerned as she had ‘never seen her looking that ill.’

She said Isabelle was ‘white, had tummy ache, her knee was hurting’ and ‘just wanted to be cuddled.’

She also had a ‘bump on her head’ and when Ms Walker changed her nappy, she said she found bruises on her back and what looked like ‘fingerprint’ marks near her hip.

Ms Walker said she asked her daughter: ‘What the bloody hell are those?’

Walker told her mother Isabelle had accidentally banged her head and had picked up a virus from an earlier hospital stay for a fractured leg which is why she looked so unwell.

The grandmother gave evidence in court from behind a screen and told Mr McKone that she had never met Simpson.

Ms Walker said her daughter explained that Simpson ‘had anxiety and didn’t want to meet with me.’

She said her daughter had previously been a victim of domestic abuse and that was why she had CCTV cameras in her home which have captured interactions between Walker, Simpson and Isabelle.

Asked by Mr McKone if her daughter loved Isabelle, Ms Walker replied: ‘I think she did.’

Jurors have previously been told that Walker and Simpson used drink and drugs to excess, sometimes partying together into the early hours of the morning.

But Walker began having concerns about Simpson and phone records found she had searched Google to ask whether he was on the sex offenders’ register.

The court was also read messages between Walker and her mother which suggested that Simpson had ‘taken the huff… because of the paedo comment.’

Prosecutor Richard Wright KC said: ‘It appears Alexandra Walker has said something to Harrison Simpson about him being a paedophile.’

Walker and Simpson deny the murder of Isabelle, causing or allowing the death of a child, assault by penetration of a child under 13 and child cruelty. 

The trial, expected to last six weeks, continues.