This is the moment the lying mother of Ayeeshia Jane Smith called 999 to say her child had stopped breathing in an accident - minutes after she murdered her by stamping on her tiny chest.

Kathryn Smith, 23, killed her 21-month-old daughter while at home in Burton, Staffordshire, with her partner, Matthew Rigby, 22, who was convicted of allowing or causing her death.

Audio of Smith's 999 call reveals how the killer claimed Ayeeshia had a seizure and when the operator asked if she is breathing she said: 'No there's nothing, she's gone'.

In fact the mother had beaten her until she resembled a 'car crash victim' and the toddler had a torn heart, a partially severed tongue, shattered ribs and was missing tufts of hair when she died.

The little girl, who was known as AJ, was heard screaming 'stop mummy, stop daddy' before she was murdered on May 1 2014.

Her cannabis addict mother kept drugs bought with her benefits in Ayeeshia's Tommee Tippee drinking cup, smoked the drug throughout her pregnancy and was high when she beat Ayeeshia, MailOnline can reveal.

New pictures published today also reveal how the 21-month-old suffered a string of injuries to her face and body, including a bleed on her brain inflicted four months before she died.

Innocent: New pictures of Ayeeshia taken before her death show how she was injured frequently in her short life, here face was gashed in the months before she was murdered by her cruel mother Kathryn Smith

Abuse: This is the Tommee Tippee cup belonging to Ayeeshia, used by her mother to store her cannabis (pictured), which she paid for using her benefits

Mugshots: Smith, left in custody, faces life in prison while Rigby, right, also faces a long sentence

Smith wept uncontrollably in the dock, dabbing away the tears after the jury convicted her of murder and child cruelty this afternoon.

Heartbroken: Ayeeshia's biological father, Ricky Booth leaving Birmingham Crown Court today after his ex was found guilty of murder

Rigby, who had previous convictions for violence, was today found guilty of allowing or causing the death of a child but cleared of murder and child cruelty.

When the jury cleared Rigby of murder, he mouthed 'thank you' but broke down in tears when he realised they had found him guilty on the lesser charge.

Both have been remanded in custody until Monday, when they will be sentenced, and Smith faces life in prison while Rigby faces a long jail term.

Social workers missed a string of chances to put toddler Ayeeshia into care before she died and even ignored her mother's own pleas to take her child away.

The trial of Ayeeshia Jane Smith's killers Kathryn Smith, 23, and her boyfriend Matthew Rigby, 22, also revealed the authorities placed her with a foster family only to give her back to her 'volatile' mother.

Kathryn Smith even told social workers to 'take Ayeeshia away because I'm a c**p mother' and would spend her benefits on cannabis rather than feeding her daughter.

Ayeesha would sometimes go up to a week at a time without eating and only had crisps and small amount of chocolate biscuit in her stomach when she died.

Smith would instead spend her benefits on feeding her cannabis habit and when asked in court whether this was cruel she said: 'My money - my income support'.

In case echoing the tragic death of Baby P, NHS doctors also failed to spot a 'concerning' pattern of historic injuries pointing to serious physical abuse in the months before she died.

Social workers also saw drug use, violence and child neglect at the home where the toddler lived but mother and daughter were kept together until she died in May 2014.

Despite blaming each other for Ayeeshia's murder Smith continued to share a bed with Rigby until their trial and even gave him a winged locket containing her dead daughter's ashes.

In the dock: Kathryn Smith, 23, has been found guilty of murdering her 21-month old daughters Ayeeshia Jane. Her partner Matthew Rigby, 22, was today found guilty of allowing her death

Ayeeshia was almost put into care from birth because it was feared she would be neglected by her troubled mother but instead was left to suffer a chaotic and violent home-life before she died.

Matthew Rigby, who she called 'daddy', even threatened to burn their flat down with the family inside a month before he helped kill the toddler but she remained at home in Burton-on-Trent.

One neighbour who knew Ayeeshia and her mother, who did not want to be named, told MailOnline: 'It's so sad to think what she went through, especially as she was too young to speak out or get help.

'It's disgusting to think social services gave her back to her mum'.

Derbyshire County Council has carried out a serious case review into whether more could have been done to protect Ayeeshia. It will be published later this month.

During Smith and Rigby's month-long trial it was revealed that Ayeeshia was not taken into care a second time despite:

Her mother Kathryn Smith repeatedly asked social workers to 'just take her away because I'm a c**p mum'

Toddler suffered cuts to her face and body, a bleed on the brain and her hair was missing in the months before she died

Ayeeshia's killer Matthew Rigby said he 'hated' her and threatened to torch the house and set fire to her cot, which was brought to the attention of police. He was banned from seeing the family by the authorities but continued to visit

Social workers said that her mother appeared 'spaced out' on drugs and the house smelt of cannabis. Kathryn Smith also refused to take drugs tests and would later admit spending £30 of her £52-a-week benefits on cannabis

Ayeeshia had developmental problems and was malnourished. When put with a foster family she learned to eat solid food, said her first words, and grew to trust adults and put on weight. Four months later she was given back to her mother and regressed but stayed with her mother until she died

The couple's former neighbour Tracey Roberts gave evidence that she heard a child's voice screaming 'stop mummy, stop daddy' just days before young Ayeeshia's death

Toddler suffered regular suspicious injuries - including a hospital visit for a 'non-accidental' brain injury just four months before she died that has been compared to those found in 'car crash victims'

A leading children's charity has blasted social services for missing opportunities to save Ayeeshia saying the failures had chilling echoes of the Baby P scandal.

Peter Connolly died in August 2007, after suffering more than 50 injuries in just eight months, during which he was repeatedly seen by NHS staff and Haringey Children's Services - the same local authority that failed Victoria Climbie.

Last picture: This is Smith and Rigby pushing tragic Ayeeshia in her buggy in the hours before the toddler died

Catalogue: Ayeeshia's biological father Ricky too pictures of his child's injuries to her cheek, left, and chin, right, sustained while living with her cruel mother

A picture taken at Derby Hospital showing an injury to Ayeeshia's finger in January 2014 - doctors missed a string of non accidental injuries, the court heard

Claude Knights, CEO of Kidscape, said of Ayeeshia's case: 'It is extremely depressing to discover that one more vulnerable infant well known to children's services suffered fatal non-accidental injuries while she was subject to a child protection order.

'This reminds us of the catastrophic death of Baby P and a number of similar cases which were followed by serious case reviews and the seminal Lord Laming report published in 2009.

'Ayeeshia's tragic and avoidable death leads us to ask if anything at all has been learned from the recommendations in these costly reports.

'Lord Laming made a plea for a more joined-up multi-agency approach, more robust questioning and monitoring of parents known to pose a threat to their children, as well as less hesitation to remove a child from a patently abusive and dangerous situation.

'Little Ayeeshia's horrific and tragic death is a stark reminder that despite robust knowledge of what needs to be done to protect children, consistent implementation of vital recommendations has not been achieved.

'There is certainly an urgent need to ensure that children's services, police and health organisations have protected budgets for the staffing and training of child protection units.

'Our society cannot stand by and allow such brutal destruction of innocent young lives.'

Tragic Ayeeshia's mother and stepfather were caught EMBRACING halfway through their trial over the toddler's horrific death

Child killers Kathryn Smith and Matthew Rigby were caught in an embrace midway through their trial, it can now be revealed.

The couple’s clinch was caught on CCTV and witnessed by security staff, who reported it to the judge.

Their bail conditions stated they should have no contact with each other and the pair had claimed they were no longer an item.

However their trial heard that Smith and were ‘two peas from the same pod’ who sought to protect each other by lying.

Kathryn Smith, 23, and former partner Matthew Rigby, 22, outside Birmingham Crown Court. The pair were seen embracing during their trial which was a breach of their bail conditions

They thrived on the turbulence of their violent, drug-fuelled relationship, the prosecution claimed.

The couple, who met at school, loved the ‘breaking up and the making up’ and had a ‘common interest in smoking really large quantities of cannabis’ the jury was told.

They smoked the drug three of four times a week and would row when they ran out.

But they stayed together even after Ayeeshia died and were in a relationship right up until the start of the trial.

They claimed to have then split up but at the start of the trial Smith presented Rigby with a locket containing Ayeeshia's ashes.

Judge Geraldine Andrews demanded an explanation from the couple’s barristers when she was made aware of the embrace in a room just off the dock on Tuesday.

Rigby’s barrister claimed he was ‘distressed and crying’ and Smith’s hug was a ‘natural, human response’.

Judge Andrews said the pair were on their last warning over their behaviour but allowed the trial to continue.

The couple first met at school in south Derbyshire but lost contact. They started seeing each other again in the summer of 2013 after being reintroduced by a mutual friend Naomi Pantelle, 20, in Swadlincote.

Miss Pantelle, 20, who had also dated Rigby, said: ‘A relationship formed very, very quickly and they moved in together after a couple of days.’ But that relationship was volatile.

Smith called the police on at least two occasions about Rigby. Social services wanted Smith to sign a contract agreeing to stop seeing Rigby but she refused. In March 2014, the couple moved into the two-bed maisonette in Britannia Drive, Stretton – where Ayeeshia died.

EXCLUSIVE: Ayeeshia scavenged in bins for food while her mother smoked cannabis reveals her godmother as new footage shows the tragic toddler as a happy four-month-old

Tragic Ayeeshia Jane Smith would scavenge for food in bins after being starved by a cannabis-addict mother who was more interested in scoring drugs than her own child's funeral, the toddler's godmother has told MailOnline.

Esta Barrett, 25, said she was glad Kathryn Smith was convicted and that she hopes 'she gets what's coming to her'. She added that she would like to see Smith be rehabilitated in prison.

As Smith was found guilty of murdering Ayeeshia and Rigby guilty of allowing or causing her death today, new footage has emerged of the tragic child as a baby.

Ayeeshia is shown gurgling happily while chewing on a mobile phone on her godmother Esta's lap when she was four-months-old.

Almost 18 months later her mother beat her until she resembled a 'car crash victim' and she had a torn heart, a partially severed tongue and was missing tufts of hair when she died.

The little girl was heard screaming 'stop mummy, stop daddy' before she was murdered on May 1 2014.

Ayeeshia's godmother first met Smith when she was four months pregnant and saw first hand how the child was neglected and abused by her mother during her short life.

She also revealed that her goddaughter, known as AJ, would scream in fear when handed to her tormentor Rigby, describing it as being like watching a 'horror film'.

Esta believes Ayeeshia should have been in care before she died but every time social services threatened to take her away Smith would 'plead to get her back because she was a very good liar'.

In an extraordinary interview with MailOnline Ayeeshia's godmother reveals:

Rebuke: Ayeeshia Jane Smith's godmother Esta Barrett, pictured right with fiancee Elliott, has revealed how the girl's mother Kathryn Smith neglected the child under the noses of social services

Kathryn Smith sent 'cold' Facebook message to friends saying simply: 'AJ has passed away'

Smith was back in touch around time of the funeral to ask where to buy drugs - with no mention of her child

Malnourished child would scramble for food in the bin and was dropped 'like a brick' by her mother

Ayeeshia would scream uncontrollably like something in a 'horror film' when handed to Rigby, who is guilty of causing or allowing the girl's death

Cruel mother smoked cannabis throughout her pregnancy - and would spend her benefits on drugs rather than food for her daughter

Miss Barrett said that her former friend was constantly stoned throughout her pregnancy and would regularly see her smoking joints in front of the baby.

And after the toddler died her mother sent her a 'cold' Facebook message saying: 'AJ has passed away' before later asking if she could help her buy cannabis with no more mention of Ayeeshia's death.

But the reality was that Smith did not want her and would let her starve to spend her benefits on cannabis and would ignore Ayeeshia to concentrate on a string of affairs with men and women.

Miss Barrett, who is engaged to long-term partner Elliott, told MailOnline: 'She was just a bad mum. She was more interested in her own love life.

'AJ should have been taken in by social services but instead they were taken in by Kat. I just hope that now justice has caught up with her.'

She only found out about AJ's violent death in a 'cold' Facebook message.

She said: 'I checked Facebook and there was a message from Kat saying, 'AJ passed away last night x'. She'd sent it four times in a row.

Happier times: Ayeesha chews on a phone as a four-month-old in unseen footage given to MailOnline

Close: A happy Ayesha kicks on the floor of her godmother's home when she was just four months old

'It was cold. The next message I got from her a few weeks later was asking if I knew anyone who had weed. There was no mention of AJ.

'We are still distraught about it now. AJ was like a daughter but when AJ died Kat seemed to be more interested in buying new clothes and wigs. She arranged a cremation very quickly. We were invited but too distraught to go'.

It was the spring of 2012 that Kat Smith moved into the same block of flats on the outskirts of Swadlincote, Derbyshire as Esta Barrett.

Miss Barrett, then 22, felt sympathy for Kat who was 19, four months pregnant and on her own. Her previous address had been her father's garage and that social services had arranged the move.

'Other girls who lived in the same block of flats warned me that she was a bad egg and had a bad temper but because I trust people I just saw a young pregnant woman moving in on her own and I wanted to help her.'

If anyone needed support, Kat Smith it seemed, was that person.

'She had just shaved her hair off having a number one crew cut,' recalled Miss Barrett, 25. 'She said it was the stress of moving and splitting up from the baby's father.

'She wasn't too bad when she was pregnant but after the baby was born it was a different story.'

When that child finally came in the shape of Ayeeshia, Kat's hair had started to grow back and Ricky was in her past.

Rigby was today found guilty of allowing or causing the death of Ayeeshia but cleared of murder and child cruelty

So too, it seemed, was her desperation to have children.

Her father, Richard Smith, was a man with a good reputation locally. He and his wife Jane had adopted both of their children – Kat and James, as tots but Mr Smith had suffered a breakdown after his wife, Jane, had left him and moved south a couple of years before Ayeeshia's birth.

Miss Barrett would later witness their relationship at first hand.

'Richard Smith is an unbelievably lovely man,' said Miss Barrett. 'He is very quiet and placid but he and Kat never got on. She would be incredibly rude to him and he appeared to be nervous in her company.'

As for Ricky Booth, the baby's teenage father, Miss Barrett said that they had been together for about a year before they split up during the pregnancy.

Neglect: Ayeeshia would scramble for food in the bin of the family home and was thin and muted in the months before she died

'He was very young and not looking to have children. He told me that Kat was so desperate for a child that she was poking holes in the condoms.'

When the baby was born her boyfriend was Brad but he was quickly replaced by Josh who turned out to be violent.

Ayeeshia's godmother said: 'She appeared to have a lot of different partners – girls as well as boys, and on one occasion she claimed to have been raped but nothing came of it and others suspected it was to explain away an STI.

KAT WOULD DUMP AYEESHIA TO SMOKE WEED AND MEET BOYS Esta Barrett has revealed that Ayeeshia's mother Kathryn was completely ill-equipped to care for a child she didn't really want in her life. Smith would often leave the baby at her home after turning up unannounced - or call in the middle of the night to say she couldn't cope. Miss Barrett said: 'For over six months, I looked after that little girl on and off. To begin with Kat would leave AJ, as we all called her, with me when she went to her hairdressing course at Burton College but then it became whenever she wanted to go out be it to have a guy round or buy some weed. 'A lot of the time she was dropped off with no food or nappies, occasionally there was some milk but it didn't last long. 'At that time we did not have any spare money and our flat was not really suitable for a baby due to mould problems but Kat didn't care. 'I knew that little girl so well that I could recognise her cries and I distinctly remember going round there when she was about six months and AJ was giving her hungry cry and Kat was just cursing her for making so much noise. 'She would just bring AJ round and see, 'She won't sleep' and just leave her or sometimes she would ring me in the middle of the night and say that AJ wasn't sleeping and could I help.' Miss Barrett's fiancé, Elliott Callard, said: 'At that time we were only getting weekends together and they were all taken up with AJ. I told her that she shouldn't allow Kat to use her like she was.' Advertisement

'There were a lot of violent incidents with Josh. Their door had a hole through it after one of their rows and there was a lot of smashed glass on another occasion.'

With such a hectic social schedule it is perhaps little wonder that baby Ayeeshia quickly became a burden.

'Kat wasn't too bad when she was pregnant. She would smoke a lot of weed and her flat would stink of the stuff but compared to what she became after the birth she was alright.

'She just didn't appear to be too interested.

Miss Barrett recalls two occasions when social services became involved and there was the threat of AJ being taken into care.

'She wasn't growing properly,' said Miss Barrett, 'and something happened with social services in February 2013 and Kat had to plead to get her back. She was a very good liar.

'Social services had been involved before because it was they who had arranged for her to move from her dad's garage into the flats when she was pregnant and they were involved again I believe in the May of 2013. It may have been connected to Josh, who was a violent partner.'

Shortly afterwards, Miss Barrett and fiance Elliott Callard moved to a new address but they kept some contact with Kat for AJ's sake and went to visit about three months before the little girl died.

That visit haunts them to this day.

'AJ was about 18 months,' recalled Miss Barrett, 'but she seemed very different to the bright little baby I'd known before.

'I can tell you she was a really bright little thing. When she was just a few months old she could clap along with me but when we saw her aged one and a half she just seemed a lot duller and quieter than before.

'On the afternoon we went round Kat was living with Matthew Rigby and we were in the kitchen and Matthew was rolling a spliff on the counter while Kat was trying to feed AJ some sugar puffs.

'Then she picked up the little girl and passed him to Matthew. Instantly she started this really terrible screaming. It was like a horror film.

'Matthew tried to calm her for a few seconds then handed her back to Kat saying he couldn't deal with it.

'Earlier I had seen AJ picking food out of the rubbish bin and I told Kat who just told her off. But why would any child take food from the bin if they weren't hungry?

'We don't know what to make of Matthew. He seemed alright and from what we've heard he is not a bad lad but hearing AJ's scream that day meant we could never fully trust him.

'Kat though had a proper nasty temper on her. She was always screaming at people. I heard the midwife get it from her one day and I overheard reference to her having attacked another girl with a baseball bat.

'I know she was very close to her adopted mother but she had also wanted to find her biological mother but this hadn't gone well'.

Social services missed vital chances to save tragic Ayeeshia before she was stamped to death at 21 months by her self-confessed 'c**p mother' and stepfather

THE MISSED CHANCES TO HELP AYEESHIA JANE SMITH July 15, 2012 - Ayeeshia Jane Smith born to Kathryn Smith and biological father Ricky Booth but is allowed to go home despite fears the child would suffer 'neglect'. February 20, 2013 - Local authority keeps Ayeeshia on same safeguarding plan because of domestic violence at the family home. March\April 2013 - Further reports of domestic violence in Smith's relationship with Joshua Collier made to authorities. May 16, 2013 - Smith signs supervision order at court agreeing to move away with Ayeeshia to her mother's home in Buckinghamshire but within three weeks Smith breaches order by returning and Ayeeshia is taken into care. October 8, 2013 - Ayeeshia, who has said her first words and has put on weight, leaves foster care and returns to live with Smith. November 2013 - Smith begins relationship with Matthew Rigby January 7, 2014 - Ayeeshia taken to hospital with cut to bottom left lip and a bruise to the little finger. Doctors find a bald patch on the back of her head and diagnose child with alopecia. February 3, 2014 - Ayeeshia taken to hospital after suffering bleed on the brain caused by 'non-accidental' head injury. Doctors diagnosed her with a febrile convulsion, but an expert medical witness told the court this was unlikely and that medical tests for child abuse were not carried out. March 29, 2014 - Ayeeshia taken to hospital with laceration to inside of her lower lip. Social workers note Ayeeshia's weight falls 10kg in six weeks. April 1, 2014 - Social worker visits Smith at home where she claims she is not in a relationship with Rigby. Smith is warned that he poses a danger to her child. April 4, 2014 - Smith reports Rigby to police following domestic disturbance. He said he would burn down the house, the child's cot and plant cocaine to get Ayeeshia taken into care. April 24, 2014 - Doctors treat child for bruise to the nose, parents say she hurt herself falling from her potty. May 1, 2014 - Ambulance crews called to Britannia Way, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, after Ayeeshia collapses. She dies later in hospital from a cardiac arrest. Medical experts say she was beaten and died. Advertisement

Ayeeshia Jane Smith was born on July 15 2012 - but social services had grave concerns even a month before she was born that she would be neglected by her 'volatile' mother Kathryn.

But the baby was allowed home on a child protection plan.

This meant that at least three Derbyshire County Council social workers, a domestic abuse support officer and an NHS health visitor visited her throughout her short life.

This arrangement continued in the 21 months until she was beaten to death - and despite drug use, a series of violent relationships and serious neglect she stayed with her mother Kathryn for most of her life.

She was put in care in May 2013 but was returned to her her mother in the October.

Denise Leavesley was Smith's social worker between June 2012 and May 2013 - and revealed that the mother had even asked them to take her into care.

During the trial Mrs Leavesley revealed: 'She said I should just take the baby now'.

Elizabeth Nugent, a support worker with Derbyshire Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse Service, visited Smith in early 2013 - and on arrival heard a loud bang and a baby's cries coming from the her flat.

Mrs Nugent told the court: 'There was a clear smell of cannabis. I smelled cannabis outside the flat and as soon as Kat opened the door it was apparent someone had been smoking it.

'AJ was in her arms crying and shaking. Kat said she fell off the bed. I only saw the child's face once, Kat kept it covered up.

'The child's breath was quite quick and erratic. Her hair was quite knotted and it clung to her head. She looked pale and her eyes were sunken.

'Afterwards I made a safeguarding referral to social services because I was concerned for the child.'

In April 2013 health visitor Sarah Shaw explained that during a home visit she saw her then boyfriend had punched the front door, before verbally abusing the young mother 'and kicking her in her stomach'.

At the time Smith was seeing a man called Joshua Collier, about whom social workers had raised concerns in the past.

Derbyshire social services were concerned enough about the situation that they kept Ayeeshia on a safeguarding plan under the 'emotional abuse' category - but Ayeeshia remained at home.

Ms Shaw said that she had tried to explain the risk to Ayeeshia from violent relationships.

Describing the conversation she said: 'She got angry, swearing and stating to us to 'just take AJ away' because that is what we were going to do anyway and 'because I am such a c*** mother'.'

A month later, when Ayeeshia was 11 months old, she was taken into care after her mother had refused to stay away from her violent partner.

She thrived, learned to eat solid foods, said her first words and began to move on her own. She also gained trust in adults.

But four months later she returned home - just seven months before her death on May 1, 2014.

Home: Ayeeshia's small bed photographed after her death with no mattress and toys piled next to it

Squallor: Smith and Rigby's bed with a drug filled Tommee Tippee cup and an ashtray lying on the floor next to it

Horrifying: A post mortem examination revealed how the toddler had injuries all over her body - and some were up to four months old

Tragedy: Ayeeshia's hair also fell out - experts told the trial that it may have been caused by stress or being pulled out

Expert witness doctor Kathryn Ward said: 'She would only take milk from a bottle and had been reluctant to take solids.

DOCTORS FAILED TO SPOT AYEESHIA'S NON-ACCIDENTAL INJURIES BEFORE HER DEATH Life on drugs: Kathryn Smith smoked drugs at home throughout Ayeeshia's tragic life including on the day she died in May 2014, The toddler was rushed to hospital with a 'non-accidental' head injury three months before she died, it emerged during the trial. Ayeeshia also saw a GP in January 2014 because of her alopecia, probably caused by 'trauma' at home or having her hair torn out, the medical expert said. Describing the 'non-accidental' injury Dr Ward told the jury at Birmingham Crown Court: 'It's well documented that child abuse may present in a child that has previously been well that suddenly collapses with an apparent life-threatening event. 'Signs of abusive head injury include a recurrence of life-threatening events, vomiting, and a call by the child's carer to the emergency services. These are red flags to doctors. 'There is no evidence this possibility (child abuse) was considered on February 3 (by doctors). It's probable that the event on February 3 was associated with non-accidental head injury.' Ayeeshia's alopecia, which was reported to doctors on January 7, 2014, could have been the result of 'trauma' caused by hair pulling, the court heard. Dr Ward said: 'Many stresses can cause children to have areas of hair loss, though it is uncommon in children younger than two. 'Children can pull out their own hair or someone else can pull on their hair. One of the problems in assessing the cause was by the time dermatologists saw Ayeeshia the hair was growing back. 'In my opinion the most likely cause would have been a viral infection or possible traumatic hair loss.' The couple's former neighbour Tracey Roberts gave evidence in which she claimed to have heard a child's voice screaming 'stop mummy, stop daddy!' just days before young Ayeeshia's tragic death. Mrs Roberts also said that she regularly heard Smith and Rigby rowing. On the day she died, Smith and Rigby claimed they had been trying to get her to use her potty after a 'perfect' outing to see the child's grandparents. The toddler died from a cardiac arrest triggered by a laceration to the heart which 'could have been the result of stamping', the jury was told. The pathologist who conducted the post-mortem revealed her wounds were so severe they looked like those sustained in major road accidents. Advertisement

'She would wake every couple of hours in the night which was unusual seeing as she was nearly a year old at the time. She would take a couple of gulps of milk in the night then go back to sleep.

'She was wary of men though she had come to trust the foster carer's husband.

'She had an acceleration in growth velocity and was a more well-nourished looking child.'

Ayeeshia was returned to Smith's care in October that year and shortly afterwards social services became aware of her dating a new man, 22-year-old Matthew Rigby - the man who would eventually help kill her.

In January 2014, it emerged Smith lied to health visitor Sarah Shaw about the fact Rigby had damaged the front door of her flat after she claimed the couple had been locked out, initially blaming it on other residents.

Social workers again discussed taking a toddler into care when it emerged the stepfather had reportedly threatened to torch the family flat, less than a month before the child died in May 2014.

Senior social worker Stephen Crean, who was responsible for Ayeeshia's case, said: 'If concerns were escalating, which they appeared to be, then we will be initiating the process of care proceedings.'

Only the day before the girl's death, a multi-agency risk assessment meeting involving police and social services took place in Tamworth, Staffordshire, to discuss Ayeeshia's welfare.

It was decided to arrange for a domestic abuse support worker to visit Smith, according to Mr Crean.

He then sent a text to Smith on the afternoon of April 30 2014, saying: 'Hi Kat, I would like to visit you and AJ tomorrow at 10am, is that ok?'

Just over an hour after he sent that text, Ayeeshia had collapsed at her flat with fatal injuries.

Earlier that month, Smith had refused to sign an agreement not to see Rigby, despite her having called police in the early hours of April 4 to report how he had threatened to burn the flat down.

Mr Crean told the trial jury: 'The agreement was asking her to not let Mr Rigby in the flat because the concern was, according to the police, there was a threat to set fire to the flat, so the agreement was to not have any contact.'

Expert witness Dr Kathryn Ward told their trial the toddler died in May 2014 because of 'punching, stamping or severe compression' and a 'concerning' pattern of injuries were not picked up on.

The little girl also had a bruised neck as if she had been 'grasped and shaken' and suffered a 'blunt force trauma to the buttocks', she said.

Dr Ward also told the jury that 'significant lacerations' to her tongue were probably caused by 'force of the jaw' clamping down when she was struck.

A post-mortem examination also revealed the child had an old bleed on the brain and damage to her spine.

The jury heard the chest injuries were as a result of a very heavy impact or impacts to the body which 'could have been as a result of stamping.'

Crime scene: This is the Burton home where Ayesshia was beaten to death and where she suffered a series of suspicious injuries before she died

Smith told the court: 'AJ got really upset, so I popped my head around the kitchen door, to see AJ in the bedroom and said to Matt 'just leave it she's not going to do it'.

She added: 'As soon as I said 'leave it', AJ stood up and started clapping and smiling.'

The little girl asked her mother for some juice, and as Smith left the child's bedroom to fill the bottle, she was aware of Rigby joining her in the kitchen.

Smith, who was in floods of tears in the witness box, described what happened next, saying: 'I heard a gasp from AJ.

Message: Stephen Crean, senior social worker for Derbyshire County Council, said in a report that Rigby had not posed a risk to Ayeeshia

'Me and Matt were in the kitchen and we looked at each other, so I knew he'd heard it. We went into her bedroom and she was just laying there.

'AJ was lay on her left-hand side, staring out the window and she looked all pale and her lips were blue and her mouth was bubbling.'

The couple attempted to resuscitate the girl, with Smith dialling 999 within three minutes, but despite the best efforts of hospital doctors nothing could be done to save the girl.

Yet last week Matthew Rigby gave a different account in the witness box and pointed the finger of blame squarely at the little girl's mother, telling a crown court jury it 'must have been' her.

Matthew Rigby denied murdering Ayeeshia Jane Smith in a 'moment of explosive temper' and changing his account to the jury at Birmingham Crown Court.

Smith's barrister accused 22-year-old Rigby of having taken out frustrations with the couple's dysfunctional relationship on the defenseless little girl during an incident on May 1 2014.

But Rigby told the jury: 'I didn't injure that girl.'

Smith's barrister John Butterfield QC asked Rigby why he had changed his story.

Originally, Rigby had told police a version of events which would make him the last person to have seen Ayeeshia before she collapsed with fatal injuries at the family's flat in Britannia Drive in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire.

Rigby, who the jury heard has two convictions for assault including one in which he bit another man, told detectives he had seen Ayeeshia 'on the potty' in her room as Smith went to get some juice for the girl.

However, he told the court that Smith had told him what to say the day before he sat down with the police, and he was never present while the child went to the toilet.

Mr Butterfield asked: 'Then why on earth would you have said it if you hadn't seen it?'

Rigby, a former casual warehouse worker at the Superdry depot in Burton, replied: 'At that point I didn't think there was any foul play with Ayeeshia.'

Turning to the fatal collapse of Ayeeshia, Mr Butterfield said: 'According to you, you didn't assault AJ on May 1.

'If it isn't you, it must have been Kathryn?'

Rigby replied: 'It must have been, yes.'

The barrister then asked why Rigby had chosen to sleep in the same bed as Smith right up until the start of their trial, and why at the start of the hearing he had accepted a locket containing the dead girl's ashes from his former lover.

Mr Butterfield asked: 'Why would you take a gift from someone you believed to be the killer?

'The only reason you would, is because you well knew in reality it was you who did it,' he added.

Rigby replied: 'That's not the case.'

YOUNG LIVES TRAGICALLY LOST AFTER FAILURES BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES Daniel Pelka Daniel, four, died in March 2012 after a sustained period of 'appalling cruelty' during which his mother Magdalena Luczak, 27, and stepfather Mariusz Krezolek, 34, of Coventry, starved him, force-fed him salt, tortured him and locked him in a tiny room. At the time he died he had been tortured for six months and weighed just 1st 9lb, the same as an 18-month-old child. A review following his death also found that chances to save Daniel, who had gained the attention of social services and police - who visted the home 26 times, had been missed, but did not blame any individual agency. Coventry City Council has come under heavy scrutiny ever since the murder, which shocked the nation after it emerged social workers, police and teachers had all failed to save him. Peter Connelly Widely known as Baby P, 17-month-old Peter Connelly, died in August 2007, after suffering more than 50 injuries in just eight months, during which he was repeatedly seen by NHS staff and Haringey Children's Services - the same local authority that failed Victoria Climbie. Prior to his death, Peter had been admitted to hospital with injuries, and on one occasion, just days before his death, injuries to Baby Peter's face and hands were missed by a social worker after the child was deliberately smeared with chocolate to hide them. Peter's mother Tracey Connelly, her boyfriend Steven Barker, and Barker's brother Jason Owen were all convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child, the mother having pleaded guilty to the charge. The former director of Haringey children's services, Sharon Shoesmith, was eventually fired on the orders of the then Children's Secretary Ed Balls. Victoria Climbie Abuse victim Victoria, eight, who lived in Haringey, north London, died in February 2000 after being beaten, starved and tortured by her great-aunt Marie Therese Kouao and Kouao's lover Carl Manning, were jailed for life for murder. Victoria was burned with cigarettes, often tied up and hit with bike chains, hammers and wires, and the abuse had been noted by the police, the social services department of four local authorities, including Haringey council, the NHS, and charity the NSPCC, as well as local churches. However, during the trial following her death a judge described the failure by all to properly investigate the case as 'blinding incompetence'. A public inquiry, headed by Lord Laming, also found there were numerous instances where Victoria could have been saved and a subsequent report made numerous recommendations related to child protection in England. Advertisement

'My money - my income support': Shameless mum Kathryn Smith spent £30 of her £52 weekly benefits on cannabis and was high on the day her daughter died

TEXTS BETWEEN AYEESHIA'S 'KILLERS' REVEAL CHAOTIC LIFE TOGETHER Admission: Kathryn Smith said she was a 'c*** mother' and said her daughter should be taken away Kathryn Smith and Matthew Rigby claimed to have split up but spent nights in bed together up until their trial. Smith even gave him a locket containing Ayeeshia's ashes when they first appeared in court. Their trial heard about their chaotic relationship On not feeding Ayeeshia (AJ) Smith to Rigby: 'I just want the money I'm owed. AJ's hungry. I'm going to get the f***ing bus down. If you're not there I'll blow your down off. I'm doing the dog as well.' In a text to her mother, she said: 'AJ's sat in her room crying because she's been hungry and for over a week I've not been able to feed her.' On drugs Smith to Rigby: 'I just want you to be happy and you shout all the time. I can't help the fact you forgot to pick the weed up. You didn't mention anything to me. That wasn't my fault'. Days before she died Smith had also texted Rigby and the pair had discussed buying cannabis because they were 'running low' and only had 'like ten grams left'. The rows On November 22, 2013 Smith to Rigby: 'Why say I don't look after AJ (Ayesha Jane) when that's all I do? How deceitful to go behind my back and pull me and my daughter down. 'You've stabbed me in the back good and proper. I need answers, Matt.' Rigby replied: 'F*** off. That should say it all. Believe what the f*** you want. Stop the riffraff over the phone. Why can't you just leave me the f*** alone?' On January 2, 2014 Rigby to Smith: ''Please delete my number from your phone. Goodbye, Kat. Just leave me alone. Thanks for the wasted Christmas and New Year's.' Smith replied: 'Looks like me and AJ have been led if you're willing to walk away so easy over a pathetic comment. 'I was a joke and you stormed away kicking my door in. You've got to get over a joke. 'My reputation? What's that? Sitting in my flat smoking weed with you? Because that's all I ever do. I'm getting kicked out, so thanks'. The couple repeatedly fell out but remained together until after they allegedly murdered the toddler. Advertisement

Kathryn Smith spent £30 of her £52-a-week benefits on cannabis and flew into rages if she went without the drug.

When asked about spending money meant to be used to clothe and feed her child Ayeeshia she told her trial: 'My money. My income support'.

It later emerged she continued to claim that benefit for six months after her daughter's death.

The 23-year-old smoked drugs at home throughout Ayeeshia's tragic life including on the day she died in May 2014, the jury was told.

Smith admitted she had been concerned her daughter had get hold of super-strong skunk cannabis she stored in her daughter's Tommee Tippee drinking beaker.

Christopher Hotten QC, prosecuting, asked her: 'Why didn't you tell them?

'If you were worried about her taking cannabis, why not say to paramedics, 'I'm worried she might have got hold of some cannabis'?'

Smith replied: 'The paramedics were in my house, on top of my daughter, injecting her with drugs, and trying to save her life - there wasn't a conversation.'

A quantity of cannabis worth £30 was found at the flat inside a Tommee Tippee plastic child's cup which Smith has already told jurors had never been used to feed her daughter because it was broken.

She said she did not immediately tell police about the drugs in the flat adding: 'I didn't want people to look on me like I was a bad mother, it was illegal, I'm not telling the police it's in the house.'

Ayeeshia, who was known to social services throughout her short life, was rushed to Burton's Queen's Hospital but later died.

She had suffered a cardiac arrest, triggered by a laceration to her heart, which prosecutors say was caused by a foot stamp.

On April 17 2014, days before the girl's death, two social workers visited at Smith's flat and tried to carry out an on-the-spot drugs test after smelling cannabis, but the young mother refused to comply.

Then, less a week before her daughter's collapse, a senior social worker visited Smith and described her as looking 'spaced out', although Ayeeshia was not at home at the time.

The next day, the court heard, Smith sent a text to Rigby asking: 'What's the plan babe, don't touch the buds (cannabis) in the box, we've got like 10g left.'

She then sent a text message to her mother over a £40 debt she was owed by her father, to which her parents replied: 'What's it for, weed?'

On the day of her daughter's death, Smith texted her father saying: 'Right, I'm going to get the f****** bus down, if you're not there, I'll blow your door off.'

Mr Hotten asked her about these text messages to her father.

He said: 'This was angry Kathryn, wasn't it? On the day somebody killed your daughter in anger.'

She replied: 'Nobody was angry on that day, or the day before that, nobody was being angry that day.'

Mr Hotten later asked her: 'So you spent £30 on cannabis from the benefits you were receiving?'

Smith replied: 'My money. My income support.'

It emerged in court that Smith continued to claim that benefit for six months after her daughter's death because she did not want to have to tell the welfare office her child was dead.