- Mother beat daughter to death after she was returned by social services
- Toddler was heard saying 'stop mummy, stop daddy' before fatal beating
- Judge has now jailed both of them for the 'grossest breach of trust'
- Family say that killer has not revealed where the youngster's ashes are
The drug-addict mother of little Ayeeshia Jane Smith has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 24 years for beating the 21-month-old to death.
Kathryn Smith was convicted of murder last week. Her ex-partner Matthew Rigby - who was found guilty of allowing the girl's death - was given a three-and-a-half-year sentence today.
It came as the girl's biological father and other family members revealed they do not know where the youngster's ashes are and are desperate to find them so they can lay her to rest.
Speaking after the case family spokesman Robert Wade, flanked by Ayeeshia's father Ricky Booth, said Smith had been given the ashes by the undertaker after her cremation and the killer has not revealed where they are.
Mr Wade said: 'Now that the case is over, Ms Smith will be facing a prison sentence and we have no idea where the ashes are at all and we would like them returned so that the family can finally lay [Ayeeshia] to rest.'
Kathryn Smith has been jailed for life for killing her 21-month-old daughter Ayeeshia Jane Smith. Her ex-partner Matthew Rigby was also given a prison sentence for allowing the toddler's death
Little Ayeeshia was heard by a neighbour shouting 'stop mummy, stop daddy' before she was beaten to death
Ayeeshia Jane Smith's father Ricky Booth (left) and her grandmother's partner Robert Wade (right) outside Birmingham Crown Court today. The family demanded the youngster's ashes are returned to them
Jailing Smith for life today, judge Geraldine Andrews said of Ayeeshia: 'For no apparent reason her life was snuffed out by a brutal beating in her bedroom surrounded by her toys.'
She added: 'Ayeeshia was a particularly vulnerable victim, thin and slight of frame, deserving of protection and under the protection of social services for the whole of her short life.
'She was killed in her own home by her own mother - that is the grossest breach of trust.'
Addressing Smith, who wept throughout the sentencing hearing, the judge said: 'You were a devious, manipulative and selfish young woman. You were completely self-centred and told lie after lie to the authorities.'
The judge said Smith was 'venting her anger on a defenceless child', adding: 'It was you who remained your number one priority and Ayeeshia came a very poor second.'
Ayeeshia was heard screaming 'stop mummy, stop daddy' before she was murdered in May 2014. Her catalogue of injuries - which were likened to those of a 'car crash victim' - included a torn heart, a partially severed tongue, shattered ribs and was missing tufts of hair.
The case has raised serious questions for social services in her home town of Burton, Staffordshire, after it emerged the youngster was handed back to her abusive mother following a period with a foster family, despite Smith admitting she was 'a c**p mother'.
Ayeeshia's father, Ricky Booth, said today that social services 'signed his daughter's death warrant' when they returned her to his ex-girlfriend, who he described as 'evil'.
He said: 'They failed her completely. I wish they had given me the opportunity. She would have been fed, clothed, loved - and still alive.'
One of a number of harrowing photos released by the police last week shows injuries sustained to Ayeeshia's chin in January 2014
Around the same time, four months before her death, Ayeeshia also suffered this injury to her finger
The case has been compared to that of Baby P after it emerged Ayeeshia suffered a number of 'concerning' injuries in the run up to her death, including a life-threatening brain injury, which apparently went unnoticed by doctors.
Social services had been supervising Ayeeshia and she was taken away from Smith for five months and placed with foster carers, during which time she gained weight and her health improved.
But she was given back to her mother seven months before her death following a 'positive risk assessment'.
Social workers also discussed taking Ayeeshia into care again three weeks before she died, then held another meeting just 24 hours before she was killed – but did not remove the child.
Smith wept after the jury delivered their majority verdict on Friday. Rigby was cleared of murder and child cruelty by the jury but convicted of causing or allowing the child's death.
Smith and Rigby, both from Nottingham, had denied having anything to do with the child's death.
Ayeeshia had eaten just a yoghurt, a chocolate biscuit and a packet of Quavers on the day she died and was 'very thin', with her weight in the bottom 2 per cent for her age.
The youngster's godmother Esta Barrett, 25, recalled visiting Ayeeshia, known as 'AJ' three months before her death.
She said: '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?'
Officers who searched Smith's flat found the toddler had been kept in squalid conditions and skunk cannabis was stashed in her Tommee Tippee drinking cup.
The court heard the couple were 'two peas from the same pod' who had a volatile relationship but thrived on the turbulence and their love of cannabis.
In the months leading up to Ayeeshia's death, Rigby was accused of smashing up their flat and setting fire to the child's cot.
On the day of Ayeeshia's death, Smith was said to be 'annoyed' because her father had borrowed £40 from her and not paid her back.
Neighbour Tracey Roberts said she heard screaming and shouting coming from the couple's flat and a child's voice saying 'stop mummy, stop daddy' at around 3.10pm.
An ambulance was not called until after 4pm and by the time it arrived Ayeeshia was 'incredibly pale'.
Smith (left) spent benefits money meant for Ayeeshia on her cannabis addiction. Rigby was cleared of murder
A Tommee Tippee cup belonging to Ayeeshia was used by her mother to store her cannabis (pictured)
Smith initially told police her daughter was covered in bruises because she had fallen off her potty.
The tragic case echoes that of Baby P, Peter Connolly, who was just 17 months old when he died after suffering more than 50 injuries – despite being on Haringey Council's at-risk register.
Child cruelty campaigners said Ayeeshia's murder showed lessons had not been learned from Baby's P's death and the subsequent Lord Laming report.
Claude Knights, of charity Kidscape, added: '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.'
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