Ayesha Ali death: Mother and lover 'killed daughter' Published duration 21 January 2015

image caption Ayesha Ali was found dead at a flat in east London with more than 50 injuries to her body

A mother and her lover killed her daughter after developing a relationship centred around fictional characters, a court has heard.

Kiki Muddar, 43, and Polly Chowdhury, 35, are accused of murdering eight-year-old Ayesha Ali at a block of flats in Chadwell Heath on 29 August 2013.

At the Old Bailey, prosecutor Richard Whittam QC said: "To say that their relationship was unconventional is a gross understatement."

Both women deny the charges.

'Male alter egos'

Ms Chowdhury's daughter, Ayesha, was found dead in her bedroom at the flats in east London with more than 50 injuries to her body, including carpet burns and a bite mark on her shoulder, jurors were told.

Ms Muddar controlled Ms Chowdhury through a set of male alter egos, the court heard.

Ms Muddar talked of her hatred of Ayesha in a series of phone calls and text messages and pretended to have cancer, blaming Ayesha for making her condition worse, the prosecution said.

On the morning Ayesha was found dead, Ms Muddar dialled 999 and reported Ms Chowdhury had tried to kill herself and that Ayesha was dead, the court was told.

Jurors heard when the operator asked if she was concerned about the child, Muddar responded: "Ayesha is always naughty. She never makes her bed and she is a problem child".

The cause of the child's death was a head injury, the jury was told.

Prosecutor Mr Whittam said: "At the core of this case is the relationship between Kiki Muddar and Polly Chowdhury.

"It was complex and involved fictional characters."

The court heard the pair became friends when they lived near each other, and in 2012 Ms Muddar moved into Ms Chowdhury's home, which led to the breakdown of her marriage.

'Evil daughter'

Mr Whittam said there were thousands of text messages, Facebook entries and telephone calls that revealed Ms Muddar's feelings towards Ms Chowdhury and Ayesha.

He said Ms Chowdhury had fallen in love with Ms Muddar's fictional Facebook character Jimmy Chowdhury and a sexual relationship developed between the women with the younger thinking she was having sex with her soul mate "through the medium of Kiki".

Ms Muddar was also behind a character called Skyman, who only communicated by text, and who Ms Chowdhury "would try to act in a way that was approved of by him", jurors were told.

The court heard Ms Muddar repeatedly said she hated Ayesha through texts stating: "You have no right to ever love or like your evil daughter". She also threatened to drown Ayesha during a phone call to a friend.

Before Ayesha's death at the home in Broomfield Road, Chadwell Heath, Essex, a neighbour heard a child screaming in the night, the court heard.

Jurors were told of a series of notes signed by Ms Chowdhury that were found at the home, including a letter dated the day before Ayesha was found dead which said: "I Polly Chowdhury am writing this letter to let everyone know that I have taken my life and Ayesha's life. I am writing this of my own free will."

Mr Whittam said the defendants had an "unusual relationship" and one or both of them were responsible for the fatal injuries to Ayesha.

Ms Muddar, of Green Lane, Ilford, Essex, and Ms Chowdhury, of Broomfield Road, Chadwell Heath, Romford, deny murder, manslaughter and causing or allowing the death of a child between 1 March and 29 August 2013.

The trial continues.