Paedophile Harrison Simpson and mother Alexandra Walker jailed for life for murdering two-year-old daughter

A mother and her boyfriend have been jailed for life for murdering her two-year-old daughter after weeks of abuse.

Harrison Simpson, 22, and Alexandra Walker, 26, were jailed at Teesside Crown Court on Thursday with minimum terms of 28 years and 22 years respectively.

Isabelle Welsh collapsed at her home in Thornaby on 13 September last year after suffering a "massive head injury".

Walker and Simpson were convicted of murder and child cruelty, while Simpson was also found guilty of sexually assaulting the toddler.

A post-mortem found Isabelle suffered 21 broken bones in the weeks leading up to her "sadistic" death.

The court was told that as Isabelle was dying, Walker smoked a cigarette in her kitchen and delayed ringing 999 despite Googling "why would my toddler be bleeding".

She called her stepfather to come round and it was only on his instruction that she finally rang emergency services.

Judge Ms Justice Norton said Walker had delayed because she wrongly thought Isabelle was dead and was "working out what to do to save your own skin".

Security cameras in the home showed she had downed 10 cans of Stella Artois on the night Isabelle was murdered - but didn't capture the fatal attack.

When paramedics arrived they found the two-year-old at the foot of the stairs without a pulse.

There were bruises all over her body, including to her head, neck, abdomen, back and private parts. There was blood in her nappy and sick on her face, jurors were told during the trail.

Isabelle was taken to hospital but died the next day.

Experts told Teesside Crown Court that Isabelle had been shaken and her head impacted against a wall or the floor.

Paedophile suspicions

Prosecutor Richard Wright KC said the toddler suffered weeks of assaults and the head injury "was simply the end point in that campaign of violence".

Eleven days before her fatal collapse, Isabelle was taken to her GP and then to hospital with a broken leg.

Despite the misgivings of some staff, she was discharged after Walker claimed she must have hurt it when she got caught in her cot.

The court heard Walker had delayed getting her daughter checked out for about two weeks.

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Walker began dating Simpson after they met on Facebook last summer - and she suspected he might be a paedophile. He preferred to see them both at the same time and would bathe Isabelle without her permission.

However she didn't break up with him, even though she was suspicious enough to check the Sex Offenders' Register.

The court was shown video of Isabelle bouncing on a sofa and looking cheerful before the killers got together.

Simpson refused to answer police questions or testify at trial, and the judge described Walker as "a fantasist and an attention-seeker" who had "lied from start to finish".

"Right to the very end, your interest was not in Isabelle, but in yourself," she told the killer.

The judge considered a whole life tariff for Simpson but couldn't be sure if the murder was sexually motivated, although it happened around the time as the fatal blow.

Isabelle's father, Josh Welsh, was among relatives in court for Thursday's sentencing, as were the nine female jurors.

In a statement, Isabelle's family previously said: "Isabelle should have had her whole life ahead of her, but she was taken from us in the most heartbreaking way.

"She was so loved and our lives will never be the same without her."

(c) Sky News 2026: Paedophile Harrison Simpson and mother Alexandra Walker jailed for life for murdering two-year-o