Ellie-May Minshull-Coyle: Mum's 'regret' over toddler 'cage' bed Published duration 23 October 2018

image caption Lauren Coyle and Reece Hitchcott - as well as lodger Connor Kirby (not pictured) - deny manslaughter

The mother of a toddler who died after allegedly being tied face-down to a "cage" bed told a jury she regrets not "standing her ground" to her boyfriend.

Ellie-May Minshull-Coyle, aged 19 months, died last March in a flat she shared with her mother, stepfather and a lodger in Lostock Hall, Preston.

A cot tied to her bed frame turned it into a "monstrous cage", jurors heard.

At Liverpool Crown Court, Lauren Coyle, 19, Reece Hitchcott, 20, and Connor Kirby, 20, all deny manslaughter.

Claiming the bed had been converted by Mr Hitchcott, Ms Coyle told the court: "I did tell him that I didn't like it but I never told him to take it down.

"I asked Reece what it was for and he said 'give it a couple of weeks and Ellie will be in a routine and settling', so I just took his advice.

"I should have stood my ground and got Reece to take the bed down."

Ellie-May was allegedly bound by her legs and chest and forced to sleep face-down in the bed, described in court as a "monstrous cage" with cot sides placed around it and covered with blankets and towels.

Not breathing

The jury previously heard a post-mortem examination found Ellie-May died due to "forcible restraint by ligatures in a face-down position complicated by hyperthermia".

Ms Coyle told the court her daughter was lying on her back and not restrained when she put her back into bed after she woke at about 07:00 on 23 March last year.

She said she fell asleep on the sofa and woke when her father, the toddler's grandfather, Sean Coyle visited the flat at about 09:25.

Mr Coyle went into Ellie-May's bedroom with Mr Hitchcott but rang emergency services when he realised his granddaughter was not breathing, jurors heard.

When Mr Hitchcott took Ellie-May out of the bed Ms Coyle said she noticed what appeared to be a black Velcro strap around the toddler's ankles.

She said: "I said to Reece: 'Did you do this? Why would you do it?' And he said: 'I'm sorry."'

Ms Coyle, now of Collins Road, Bamber Bridge, Preston; Mr Hitchcott, of The Fieldings, Fulwood, Preston; and Mr Kirby, of Octavia Court, Huyton, all also deny a count of causing or allowing the death of the child, and two counts of child cruelty.

The trial continues.

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