Savannah Brockhill has been found guilty of murdering 16-month-old Star Hobson – the daughter of her on-off girlfriend Frankie Smith – on September 22, 2020.

Brockhill, 28, of Keighley in Yorkshire, inflicted a fatal blow or blows through a punch, kick or stamp, to Star’s abdomen in a violent attack at Smith and Star’s flat in Wesley Place, Keighley.

Frankie Smith, 20, of Keighley in Yorkshire, Star's mother, was found not guilty of murder, not guilty of the alternative charge of manslaughter, but was found guilty of causing or allowing the death of her daughter.

The devastating attack on a defenceless toddler caused catastrophic, unsurvivable abdominal injuries to Star, lacerating her inferior vena cava – the main vein taking blood back to the heart from the lower section of the body – and causing death within minutes.

Brockhill tried desperately to frame the injuries as an accident and revive Star herself, “trying to perform CPR and bring Star out of shock”, before – 11 minutes after ordering Smith to make a Google search on how to bring babies out of shock – she called 999 and tried to paint the death as an accident.

Paramedics described how Brockhill – a trained first aider – asked if CPR had caused the fatal injuries and gestured to her abdomen, and how she appeared calm and in no rush when they arrived at the flat.

As the verdict was returned, Brockhill looked sullen. Smith wept uncontrollably as the verdicts were delivered.

Both women will be sentenced on Wednesday, December 15, at 2pm.