A two-year-old girl was raped and murdered at her own home by the people who were supposed to protect her. Isabelle Rose Welsh died after being rushed to hospital following concerns for her welfare.
Cleveland Police were called to Hartington Close, in Thornaby, near Middlesbrough around 4.20pm on Saturday, 13 September, 2025 to find the toddler with a 'massive head injury.' She died in hospital the following day.
Her mother, Alexandra Walker, 25, and her partner, Harrison Simpson, 21, were found guilty of murder and causing/allowing the death of a child. Simpson was also found guilty of rape.
Delays in seeking help
Jurors at Teesside Crown Court heard how Walker delayed calling 999 as her daughter lay dying, because she feared being confronted about the child's horrific injuries. Isabelle had suffered 21 separate broken bones in the weeks leading up to her collapse.
Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, said the day before Isabelle died from a severe head injury, the defendants had been up late drinking and smoking cannabis. While Walker stayed in bed the following morning, Simpson was up and in sole care of the toddler. He later put Isabelle to bed and around 3pm on September 13, Simpson left the property.
Mr Wright said that within 10 minutes, Walker googled 'Why would my toddler be bleeding.' Internal CCTV recorded her saying 'You're scaring me' and then she googled 'what should I do if my child has blood in his stool.' Around this time, Walker went into the kitchen to smoke a cigarette. Mr Wright said: 'It is absolutely obvious that by this time Isabelle is gravely ill. She is quite simply dying. And yet, despite the searches on Google, Alexandra Walker does nothing.'
Previous injuries and arrest
Around an hour after Simpson left, Walker called her stepfather, who arrived at around 4.15pm and immediately told her to call 999. Earlier that month, Walker had taken her daughter to hospital after Isabelle suffered a broken tibia, explaining it as the child hurting herself by poking her leg through the cot.
Opening the case, Mr Wright said: 'In due course you may want to consider why there was very significant delay in summoning the emergency services. One explanation of course is that Alexandra Walker knew that this time she would not be able to bluff and bluster her way out of the very difficult questions that she knew she would be asked at hospital.'
Paramedics arrived within a minute and Isabelle was rushed to hospital, but she died in the early hours of the next day. Walker and Simpson were arrested. Walker said her boyfriend was her new partner, that they had been together for a month, and that she had raised concerns about bruises on Isabelle's body but he had denied responsibility. In a later interview, she told police she now realised Simpson had been abusing her daughter. Simpson did not answer questions during interviews.
Pattern of abuse
Mr Wright told the court: 'They both knew exactly what had happened to Isabelle because in the weeks before her death they had each subjected her to violence culminating in the infliction of that terrible, fatal head injury. It would have been...perfectly obvious that child was being seriously assaulted on a regular basis. The failure to take her to hospital for days after her leg had been broken and the significant delay in calling 999 on the 13th is evidence of the fact that both were responsible for and aware of a series of violent assaults that they wanted to keep away from medical scrutiny if at all possible.'
He said: 'She was distressed, she was unwell, deteriorating. These were not hidden events, they were not fleeting or isolated incidents. This was a pattern of abuse over time, in a small house in the presence of both defendants.'
In a moving tribute, Isabelle Rose's family said: 'She was always full of smiles. Isabelle loved to watch Peppa Pig as that was her comfort show. She also loved her dummies and dancing.' Isabelle's dad, Josh Welsh, paid tribute to his 'princess': 'Rest in peace Isabelle. Daddy loves you all the world and back.'
