FRANKIE Smith said she found Savannah Brockhill holding Star Hobson after hearing a bang in her flat on September 22, 2020.

Smith, Star’s mother, 20, of Wesley Place, Keighley, was giving her defence evidence in the trial into the alleged murder of the 16-month-old baby Star.

She and co-accused Brockhill, her partner, 28, of Hawthorn Close, Keighley, both deny murder and also deny causing or allowing Star’s death.

Being questioned by her defence counsel Zafar Ali QC, Smith said she was on the toilet when she “heard a bang from the living room”, and when she got into the room found Brockhill sat on the sofa with Star sat on her lap.

Smith has always previously said she and Brockhill had arrived in the room at the same time after hearing the bang; she told the court that was a lie and Brockhill had told her to say that while at the hospital on September 22, 2020, shortly after Star had died.

She said she “wasn’t prepared to argue” and her “head was all over the place”, after “Savannah said there were armed police outside and we were going to get arrested, and said that if they ask to say we both got into the room at the same time, and she wasn’t already in there”.

Describing the incident in her flat on the fateful day of Star’s death, Smith said she needed the bathroom due to being on her period, and shouted Brockhill into the living room to watch Star.

“Normally Star comes with me, she tried to this time but I sat her down, I didn’t want her seeing blood,” Smith said in the witness stand, wearing a ‘Star’ bracelet.

“I cleaned my legs, then changed my pad, bleached the toilet, then I sat back down to have a wee and then I heard a bang.

“I shouted in, what are you doing, I just heard a child, they went ‘Oh Star’.

“I pulled my pants up, didn’t wipe myself and just went straight into the living room.”

Getting into the living room, Smith said: “Savannah was sat on the couch with Star.

“She had Star sat up on her knee, I asked what was up with her and she said Star was winded. Star looked like she couldn’t breathe properly.

“Savannah was blowing in her face. I said to her we needed to get some help and Savannah said no she’ll be fine she’s just winded.

“Then Savannah said Star was going into shock, she put Star over her knee, pulled her little pink romper suit up, and her nappy down, and smacked Star’s bum.

“When she smacked her bum a load of sick came up, brown, like Weetabix.

“I was asking her to pass me Star, she was my baby. Savannah said no, I asked if we could get some help, she said, no she’s just winded she’ll be fine.

“She told me to get my phone and Google ‘shock’.”

Smith went and got her phone and when she returned Brockhill was with Star in the kitchen putting cold water on her, then took her to the window “for air”.

“Savannah took Star to the floor in the living room and started doing CPR on her. Her hands were on Star’s chest. I said we needed to get help.”

When Mr Ali asked why she didn’t ring for help, Smith said she wanted to but she “believed Savannah when she said Star was ok”.

An ambulance was finally called, by Brockhill, and when paramedics arrived and took Star to the ambulance, Smith said became emotional because “that’s when it all began to sink in and became real”.

Beginning her cross-examination of Frankie Smith, Kath Goddard QC, for Brockhill, put it to her that it was “an outright lie”, which she denied, and said she had “told the jury things she has never told anyone before”, to which Smith said she “didn’t lie” to the jury and “didn’t understand” what Ms Goddard meant.

The trial continues.