Toddler Dead After Being Tied To Mattress In ‘Monstrous Cage’ Bed

A 19-month-old baby died after she was tied to the mattress of her bed with tight ligatures across her chest and legs, a jury at Liverpool Crown Court was told Wednesday. Ellie-May Minshull-Coyle's bed at her home was described as a "monstrous cage."

The jury was told that the baby was bound and forced to sleep face down. Her ankles were tied together and it was likely that the sleeping position compromised her breathing, causing her death. The child lived in a two-bedroom flat in Ward Street, in Preston's Lostock Hall in England.

“This would have caused Ellie-May immense suffering, distress and upset," Christopher Tehrani QC, opening the case for the prosecution, reportedly told the jury. “She would not have been able to move off her front due to being restrained to allow her to resume breathing properly... The prosecution’s case is that Ellie-May’s death was unnecessary, pointless and wholly avoidable.”

Prosecutors alleged that sheets and bedding were placed over the sides of the bed to prevent her seeing outside and no lights were working inside her bedroom. She also has marks on her wrists and ankles.

The child's mother, Lauren Coyle, 19, her boyfriend, Reece Hitchcott, 20, described as Ellie-May's stepfather, and their lodger, Connor Kirby, 20, were all present at the home when the child died. They all deny manslaughter on March 23 last year.

Tehrani told the jury that Ellie-May struggled with her sleeping patterns but was an otherwise normal child with no health problems.

Police records show that since January 2017, Hitchcott began to bind the girl to the bed to “help her settle in a sleep routine.” Hitchcott, aided by Kirby, had enclosed the open side and end of her bed.

On the day the toddler died, Hitchcott and Kirby put the child to bed when she slept until midnight but was then unsettled during the rest of the night, prompting Coyle to send a Snapchat message to a friend saying: “This child is pissing me of [sic] tonight.”

An autopsy concluded the child’s death was caused by “forcible restraint by ligatures in a face-down position complicated by hyperthermia."

Tehrani told the court Wednesday: “Furthermore, Dr Armour noted that Ellie-May had wrist and ankle injuries consistent with being tied and restrained by ligatures attaching her to the caged structure that she was placed in."

“In Dr Armour’s opinion, Ellie-May’s injuries show that she had been forcibly tied to the bed on more than one occasion," Tehrani added. “Other injuries indicate the attempts Ellie-May may have made to release the ligature on her left wrist. She got scratch marks.”