A couple who staged the death of their 16-week-old daughter on a London bus hours after she had actually died are facing jail today.

Little baby Imani had suffered a litany of injuries including a fractured skull, broken wrist and at least 40 rib fractures when she died on September 28 last year.

Her parents, Rosalin Baker, 25, and Jeffrey Wiltshire, 52, were today cleared by an Old Bailey jury of murdering Imani but convicted of causing or allowing the death of their child.

After finding their lifeless daughter at the end of their bed, the couple concocted a callous plan to pretend the tot had fallen ill during a morning bus ride through London.

Wiltshire, who claims to have fathered 25 children, was caught on CCTV giving a thumbs up to Baker as she got on to the number 25 bus with Imani strapped to her chest with a sling that morning.

Around 20 minutes into the journey, Baker raised the alarm but sat by emotionless and apparently texting while paramedics tried in vain to resuscitate her daughter.

A post mortem revealed Imani had suffered brain damage and a catalogue of injuries, and may have been dead long before the fateful bus journey.

A jury at the Old Bailey this afternoon found Wiltshire and Baker not guilty of murder, but convicted them of causing or allowing the death of Imani.

Both defendants displayed little emotion in the dock as they heard the verdicts and were told they face lengthy prison sentences despite the murder acquittals.

“To state the obvious, Imani’s life must have been painful, distressing, and bewildering”, said Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, the Recorder of London.

“The failure to protect her is a very serious matter indeed which could only result in a substantial sentence of imprisonment – there must be no misunderstanding about that.”

During the trial, the couple turned on each other and blamed the other for Imani’s plight.

Baker blamed her abusive and controlling boyfriend and claimed he had tried to "frame" her by forcing her on to the bus with their dead child in a sling.

But former rapper Wiltshire insisted in his defence: "I'm not a life taker, I'm a baby maker."

In the week of her death, Imani was attacked three times, suffering wounds from her arm being pulled or twisted, squeezing of her chest, and throwing her against a hard surface.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC told jurors Imani was in "very significant pain and distress" and her suffering would have been obvious to the parents, who lived together in a bedsit in Manor Park.

PC Georgia Ross was on the scene as paramedics tried to save Imani’s life, and told the court she saw Baker staring at the floor with “no emotion” on her face.

“She was on her phone. It appeared she was texting someone”, she said. “She didn't once ask how the baby was.”

During the trial, Baker described Wiltshire as a violent man who was regularly high on cocaine and heroin.

She said Imani was found dead at the foot of their bed on the morning of September 28, and Wiltshire told her: “It's all your fault, I told you to give her up for adoption."

Wiltshire denied hurting his "tiny and beautiful" daughter either intentionally or unintentionally, or witnessing anyone else injure her, and told jurors he was nothing but affectionate towards Baker as well.

Baker and Wiltshire, both of Morris Avenue, Manor Park, east London, denied murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.

Judge Hilliard remanded them both in custody until sentencing on May 18.

Detective Chief Inspector Gary Holmes, from the Met’s Homicide and Major Crime Command, branded Wiltshire and Baker as “devious” for a plot that left fellow bus passengers distressed and traumatised.

“The loss of any child is tragic but to know that baby Imani was tortured and was probably in considerable pain in her last few hours is heart-rendering”, he said.

CPS lawyer Devi Kharran added: “These verdicts bring to an end a tragic case.

“The medical evidence showed that before she died, Baby Imani suffered a number of separate and violent assaults, including one which fractured her skull, damaged her brain and ultimately ended her life.

“Despite a large number of very serious and painful injuries which would have been very obvious, neither of her parents sought medical help. Instead her lifeless body was carried onto a crowded London bus to disguise the true circumstances of her death.

“Witnesses have told the court of the shock and distress on that bus once Imani’s lifeless body was discovered. Passengers and passers-by came forward to try to save Imani.

“This deeply affected a number of them and adds to the cruelty displayed in this horrible crime.”