AFTER being arrested Frankie Smith told police that Savannah Brockhill would “backhand” her and once beat her with a hairbrush and a shoe.

Transcripts from Smith’s police interviews were read out at Bradford Crown Court yesterday in the trial into the alleged murder of Star Hobson on September 22, 2020.

Star’s mother Smith, 20, and Brockhill, 28, both from Keighley deny murdering and causing or allowing the death of the 16-month-old.

In a police interview in the days after Star’s death, Smith told officers how Brockhill would “backhand” her on numerous occasions and would use controlling behaviour towards her.

However, she maintained neither she or Brockhill caused the death of Star, saying she was in the toilet and Brockhill in the kitchen when they heard a bang in the living room and found Star on the floor.

In the interview, on September 27, 2020, police officers asked Smith if she was frightened of Brockhill.

She said: “A bit. She was bigger than me and would raise her hand at me sometimes.

“She didn’t like me talking to boys, she’d check my phone without telling me, block or delete people, wanted to know where I was. I didn’t like it.”

Asked if Brockhill stopped her seeing family, Smith replied: “Not really, she asked me not to speak to Alicia and my granny because of social services which I understood.”

Police asked about when Brockhill raised her hand.

Smith said: “She was good at backhands, she would give me them, it would leave a red mark but not a bruise. She gave me a black eye but it wasn’t a big one.

“I’d got back in from a night at the pub with my mam, I didn’t tell her when I got home because my phone had died.

“She turned up at mine and said, ‘let me in’, I thought alright I’ll explain it to you.

“She came in and she was really mad. She backhanded me in the eyes, I can’t remember what she said.

“She gave me these two black eyes. She whacked me in the head with a hairbrush a few times, she whacked me on the back with a trainer, it left a mark.

“This was the worst ever. The next day she came back and said what’s happened to you, I said you caused it.

“She said she didn’t think it would leave a mark, she doesn’t know her own strength.”

She said Brockhill backhanded her “three or four times” and that Brockhill “knew what she was doing”.

Smith said Brockhill had to know where she was going and she was “a bit” controlled.

When she tried to end the relationship, “Savannah just said, ‘alright’, and the next day just thought things would be back to normal.”

She also said there were occasions Star would come back after spending time with Brockhill with bruises, and Star “may have been frightened of her”.

The trial continues.