Mum who shook baby to death told sick web of lies from DNA scam to twisted texts

Melissa Wilband has been jailed for 15 years after being convicted ofkilling her four-month-old baby girl who died after being violently shaken.

Melissa Wilband, 28, was found guilty of manslaughter after little Lexi Wilband collapsed at their home in Newent, Gloucestershire, in April 2020.

Tests revealed how Lexi died following bleeding on her brain, likely caused by being violently shaken,both recently and on at least one earlier occasion, Bristol Crown Court heard.

READ MORE: Rachel Booth missing: Everything we know as mum last seen on 3.50am jog and fresh clues emerge

READ MORE: Rachel Booth: Last recorded movements of missing mum as search enters third day

Lexi tragically died at Bristol Children's Hospital, with a nurse holding her hand, on April 18 - six days after her collapse.

Wilband's former partner, 31-year-old Jack Wheeler, from Ledbury in Herefordshire, was acquitted of causing or allowing the death of a child. The jury delivered their verdict afterfewer than two days of deliberation.

• Mum of tragic baby 'shaken to death' Lexi Wilband 'faked paternity test', court hears

• Dad claims daughter, 9, 'abducted in white van' before sinister twist

In court, Wilband's cruel web of lies was exposed. Giving evidence, the mum denied ever shaking Lexi and said she had a "bad wrist" which meant she was physically unable to shake her.

She told the court: "In the corner of my eye, I saw Lexi kind of throw herself back in her bouncer." She said she then took Lexi out of the bouncer, undressed her and put her in the bath.

"She was fine, she was giggling, she was splashing about in the water," she said. After the bath, the couple put a film on the television in the living room and Wilband went upstairs to hoover their bedroom.

"Jack was shouting to me, saying that she has gone floppy and she is going blue," Wilband said.

"I turned the hoover off and ran downstairs as quickly as I could. Lexi was in Jack’s arms. She looked very pale. She was floppy. He put his fingers in her mouth to check to see if there was any blockage. He said there was nothing there so he turned her over and started patting her back. I was panicking."

Miranda Moore KC, representing Wheeler, suggested to Wilband that she had shaken her daughter. She replied: “I did nothing to my daughter.

"How could I shake my daughter when I have a bad wrist? I couldn’t pick her up properly, how could I shake her? I never shook my daughter. That was a heavy-handed person. He was kind and gentle but he has heavy hands. My daughter was my life. I never killed my daughter, I am telling you."

A post-mortem examination gave Lexi's cause of death as bleeding to the brain, caused by a non-accidental traumatic event such as someone "shaking her violently", the prosecutor told the court.

Wheeler described to the court how Lexi went floppy in his arms and stopped breathing. He had been in a relationship with Wilband for around three years. The court heard their relationship was volatile and the pair regularly used cocaine.

Jurors were told how Wilband took the Class A drug just six days after Lexi was born. It was alleged that she would take the drug in bed, with Lexi in the Moses basket alongside her mother.

Lexi was conceived during a period when the couple had separated early in 2019. But during the pregnancy, Wilband faked a DNA test in an attempt to convince Wheeler he was the child's father, the court heard.

She presented him with a document claiming he was the biological parent, but it contained glaring errors, including a misspelling of the word "father" as "farther." After Lexi was born on 30 November 2019, a genuine paternity test confirmed Wheeler was not her father.

On the night Lexi collapsed, neighbours reported hearing a woman crying and a man speaking at around 11:30pm. A woman was overheard saying something along the lines of, "what are we going to do now?" Despite Lexi’s critical condition, Wilband did not call emergency services immediately.

Instead, she dialled the NHS 111 non-emergency number but hung up before speaking to anyone. She then called her father, who told her to ring 999.

However, she phoned 111 again and spent three and a half minutes navigating automated messages before being connected to emergency services at 11:24pm, the court heard.

Paramedics who arrived at the scene found Lexi lying on the floor. Wilband gave conflicting accounts of what had happened, telling one paediatric doctor that Wheeler had carried Lexi upstairs in her bouncer chair and may have accidentally hit her head.

Later, she told a hospital ward sister that Wheeler had been swinging the baby bouncer with Lexi inside it.

Wilband and Wheeler were both present on 17 April when the decision was made to switch off Lexi's ventilator following MRI results that confirmed the severity of her brain injuries.

Despite knowing Lexi might not survive the night, Wilband left her daughter's bedside between 8pm and 11pm to sleep elsewhere in the hospital.

A staff nurse stayed with Lexi and held her hand through the night. In the early hours of 18 April, nurses noticed Lexi's breathing had become irregular and advised Wilband to return to the ward. She arrived shortly after Lexi had passed away.

Text messages recovered from Wheeler's phone revealed that Wilband had asked him to lie about what had happened on the night of the incident, jurors heard. She also instructed him to burn drug bags hidden in her bedside drawer to prevent police from finding them during their investigation.

Detective Inspector Adam Stacey of Gloucestershire Police said that Wilband "told lie after lie after lie," beginning with Lexi's conception and continuing throughout her pregnancy and even while medical staff were trying to save her daughter's life.

He said her lies extended to police and ultimately to her testimony in court. "The jury saw those lies for what they were," he said.

"Lexi should be five years old now with her whole future ahead of her. She was shaken by someone who should have been protecting her. Someone who should have put her safety and wellbeing above everything else - her mother. Wilband did not do those things and in fact did the exact opposite. She now faces the consequences of her actions."

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Saini said he was satisfied Wilband had shaken Lexi twice.

“I am sure on the evidence that Lexi had been shaken by you in another, less violent, incident before that Easter Sunday.

“Only you will know why you acted in the way you did.

“It is hard to imagine the pain that Lexi must have suffered both from the past violence and the violence that led to her death.

“She would have cried out in anguish.”