Man accused of murdering child under police investigation at time, court told

Jamie Chadwick, 22, is alleged to have inflicted a “particularly violent” attack on Orianna Crilly-Cifrova who suffered fatal multiple skull fractures in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, last October.

Orianna’s mother, Chelsea Crilly, 20, of Warwick Road, Atherton, is accused of allowing her death after leaving her alone with Chadwick, who she knew was being investigated by police and social services over unexplained injuries to a six-month-old boy, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Opening the case, Peter Wright QC said: “Chelsea Crilly had been warned repeatedly of the danger that Jamie Chadwick may pose to Orianna. There was, we say, a significant risk of physical harm being caused by him if left alone with her.

“From July 30 2018, Jamie Chadwick had been under investigation by both the police and social services in relation to injuries sustained by a separate child with a different mother.

“At the time, the defendant was the partner of the child’s mother and was on occasion living with her under the same roof.

“He denied any responsibility for having caused any injury of any sort.

“In fact in December 2019, Jamie Chadwick was informed the investigation had been concluded and that no further action was being taken against him or any other individual.

“But at the time of Orianna’s death, the investigation was ongoing and unresolved.”

By early 2019, Chadwick and Crilly were in a relationship, said Mr Wright, and soon after various agencies became aware and were “accordingly concerned” about Orianna’s safety.

Over the following months, Crilly was warned on numerous occasions that she must have no contact with Chadwick while the inquiry into the other child, referred to in court as T, continued but lied that she was not even in a relationship with him, the court was told.

Mr Wright said: “We say the warnings could not have more explicit. Chelsea Crilly chose to ignore them. Instead she chose to trust her own flawed judgment.”

The pair moved in together with Orianna in September 2019 in an upstairs flat in Cross Lane occupied by the defendant’s sister but Crilly maintained her deceit with the authorities, the prosecutor said, and took active steps to conceal her living arrangements with the defendant.

On October 16, Chadwick had been left alone with Orianna when Crilly and the defendant’s sister returned to find the toddler strapped in her pram but “floppy” and “completely white”, the court was told.

Chadwick told them he had been sat on the toilet when the youngster quickly crawled towards him and then fell down three steps leading into the bathroom. He went on to say that she had “banged her head” but that she was “fine”.

An ambulance was called and paramedics observed that Orianna was grey in colour, “looked dead” and was not breathing for herself.

Orianna died in hospital the following day, the court heard.

Mr Wright said medical evidence would show that the account given was not compatible with the injuries sustained – said to be consistent with Orianna being picked up and swung against a very hard surface, stamped on or hit very hard with a blunt object.

He said further examinations showed Orianna had also sustained serious non-accidental injuries to her spine and ribs on at least two separate occasions in the days leading up to her death and “must have been in obvious distress when handled”.

Chadwick denies murder.

Crilly denies allowing the death of a child.

The trial, expected to last up to five weeks, continues.

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