THE closing speech for the prosecution in the Star Hobson trial took place yesterday, in which the jury were told they must find the defendants guilty of murder.

Prosecutor Alistair MacDonald QC addressed the jury for much of the day and told them why, in the prosecution’s case, Frankie Smith and Savannah Brockhill should both be found guilty of murdering 16-month-old Star on September 22, 2020.

Smith, 20, of Wesley Place, Keighley, and Brockhill, 28, of Hawthorn Close, Keighley, both deny murdering Star - Smith’s daughter - or causing or allowing her death.

Mr MacDonald said it was the Crown’s case Brockhill had struck the fatal blow to Star that afternoon, encouraged to do so by Smith to “teach Star a hard, physical lesson”.

He told the jury both women had subjected Star to months of cruelty, documented by themselves and on CCTV, culminating in her murder.

He said this started “long before Brockhill was on the scene”, with witnesses telling court how Smith would leave Star with friends so she could go out drinking.

He pointed to the incident at Brockhill’s home on June 27, where an exhausted Star was filmed by the pair falling off a chair and into her bowl of food, asleep.

He said: “There are no words to convey the level of cruelty shown that afternoon.

“No one who truly loved Star would have taken part in those actions.”

When those clips were shown, Brockhill had claimed to be at work.

“She didn’t have to claim she was at work, but she did,” he added.

Moving to July 20, when Star was seen with a large bruise on her cheek while in Brockhill’s care; Google searches were made on how to get rid of bruising quickly.

On Smith, despite all the injuries and bruises sustained by Star, he said she never once sought medical help, and she would film herself punishing Star to “show Brockhill how much she loved her, without an ounce of motherly love for Star”.

Moving to September 13, he called both women “selfish” for subjecting Star to a weekend at a “grim recycling plant in a red hot car” so Smith could go out drinking.

“But what are the benefits for Brockhill? It let her do whatever she wanted to Star, and she took full advantage of it.”

This was followed by more Google searches; ‘can you die from being winded’, ‘respiratory failure’.

“There’s a resonance there with Sept 22,” Mr MacDonald suggested.

On Smith again, there was the footage from September 10 of Star crying and crawling up the stairs before being shouted at by Smith.

“If she was prepared to treat her daughter like that, there is no limit to the cruelty she was capable of.”

Brockhill, in texts on Sept 19, called Star a “very nasty and naughty child” and a “brat”, and called Smith’s family a “lower class” and “tramps”.

“Surely that would be the end of it? But it shows how obsessed they were, Brockhill said the next day ‘I do love you my girl’, and more unbelievably, Smith replied ‘Are you having Star on Friday or not?’.”

Mr MacDonald said this showed Smith’s “terrible selfishness”.

September 22, the day of Star’s death.

“Smith said it was a chilled morning but her texts tell a different story; ‘Sorting this child out, fed her now she’s sat on the floor saying no Ragged my hair, hit me, sick to death of it’.”

Mr MacDonald added: “Both women were hiding what had happened and had something to hide because they were in this together.

“It was Brockhill who we say caused these injuries with blows to the abdomen, as she had earlier in September in the car. Smith was sick to death, heartbroken about the torn Rubettes ticket, encouraging her to teach Star a hard lesson.

“Look at how she treated Star on the 20th, over the months we have spoken about. If Smith had nothing to hide, if she was in the toilet at the time, why didn’t she immediately ring for help?

“If Brockhill was in the kitchen, how convenient would that be? One in the bathroom, one in the toilet. It’s a tiny flat, but Smith didn’t hear a thing.

“How convenient. It was blindingly obvious from Smith’s evidence that Star was in desperate need of medical attention, she wasn’t breathing.

“But for 11 minutes, after a Google search for shock, there was no call.

“Brockhill had CPR training, she knew full well you don’t give CPR on the abdomen, why was she making a great big song and dance to medical staff about it? Well you know why.

“She knew full well Star had suffered an abdominal blow or blows. She was pretending to have caused these injuries accidentally through CPR.

“You must not let emotion get in the way of analytical thought, but that doesn’t mean you leave behind basic human decency, that’s one of the touchstones you will judge this on.

“When you strip this case down to what really matters, the only possible outcome you can come to, the only conclusion you can reach, is that each of these women are guilty of the murder of Star Hobson.”

The trial continues.