Jury is out to consider its verdict in trial of Mansfield mum accused of murdering 19-month-old daughter

Katie Crowder, 26, of Wharmby Avenue, Mansfield, is on trial for allegedly scalding her daughter to death at her home on March 6 this year.

At the end of the two-week trial at Nottingham Crown Court, High Court Judge Mr Justice Jeremy Baker spent most of the morning summing up the case and giving jurors legal directions.

He told them that if they were sure Crowder committed the offence and that she intended to kill Gracie or cause her harm, they should find her guilty of murder.

But he told them that if they believed that Crowder had committed the offence, but did not intend to cause the toddler serious harm or death, they should find her guilty of manslaughter.

He said that if the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Crowder had committed the offence, they should find her not guilty.

He then went on to sum up the facts of the case, including Crowder’s police interviews following her arrest, where she told officers that she had found Gracie unconscious on the bathroom floor next to an overturned mop bucket and immediately rushed her around to her parents house two doors down from her own home to raise the alarm.

He also told the jury that Crowther had lied to police about her cocaine use, which may impact on her credibility as a witness but “that was a matter for them”.

The judge pointed out that following Crowder’s arrest at King’s Mill Hospital, she had told a custody officer and a police officer that she had got her jogging bottoms wet while she was “getting Gracie out of the bath,” which contradicted her later account in police interview.

He told jurors they may wish to consider video evidence played earlier in proceedings, showing Crowder break down when she was given the news that Gracie had died, moments before she was arrested on suspicion of murder.

He also summed up key scientific evidence heard during the 12-day trial, including Home Office Pathologist Dr Stuart Hamilton and and burns expert Kieran O’Boyle.

Jurors began deliberations at 2pm.

Crowder denies murder.

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