The mother of a baby girl who was allegedly shaken to death presented a fake paternity certificate to her co-accused after he expressed concerns he was not the father, a court has heard. Melissa Wilband, 28, is on trial accused of the manslaughter of Lexi Wilband, alongside her then-partner Jack Wheeler, 31.
Bristol Crown Court has been told Lexi collapsed at her home in Newent in the Forest of Dean in April 2020, when she was four-months-old, and died in hospital six days later. Tests showed Lexi had suffered bleeding on her brain, likely caused by someone “shaking her violently”, both recently and on at least one earlier occasion, Jane Osborne KC, prosecuting, told the jury.
Ms Osborne said Wilband was Lexi’s biological mother and had told Wheeler throughout her pregnancy that he was her biological father, despite this not being the case. She claimed Wilband had given inaccurate dates during her pregnancy as Lexi was conceived when the couple had separated for a few months.
“Lexi Wilband had been conceived in the early part of 2019, when Jack Wheeler and Melissa Wilband were not together,” Ms Osborne said. But while she was pregnant with Lexi, Melissa Wilband continuously told Jack Wheeler and others that she was not as far advanced in her pregnancy as she was.
“This was a deliberate ploy to deceive Jack Wheeler into thinking he was the father of Lexi. When Melissa Wilband was still pregnant with Lexi, following some queries about the paternity, she presented a document which purported to be a paternity test.
“It declared that Jack Wheeler was the father of the unborn baby. This was obviously not a genuine document. The most obvious fact was the fact that the word ‘father’ was spelt ‘farther’ which would have been obvious to anybody who knew how to spell it properly.
“Looking at that document exacerbated concerns of Jack Wheeler and his parents. Very soon after Lexi was born, Jack Wheeler ensured that Melissa Wilband submitted samples for a proper test.
“The genuine test showed that he was not the father of Lexi. After the results of this, Mr Wheeler and Ms Wilband nearly split up but Ms Wilband persuaded Mr Wheeler that he should stay with her.”
During a police interview after Lexi’s death, Wilband admitted she had faked the paternity certificate, Ms Osborne said. Wilband and Wheeler, described in court as regular cocaine users, deny charges of manslaughter, and of causing or allowing Lexi’s death.
The court heard they had been in a relationship for about three years but separated for several months when she fell pregnant by another man in early 2019. Lexi was born on November 30 2019.
In February 2020, Wilband moved into a new-build council house. Wheeler initially visited a few times a week before moving in during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Paramedics attended the property following a 111 call by Wilband at 11.24pm on April 12, and found Lexi on the floor when they arrived. Wilband allegedly claimed Lexi had been in her bouncer chair when she cried, went floppy and unresponsive, and stopped breathing.
Lexi was taken by ambulance to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, where doctors asked Wilband what had happened. “Paramedics noted that Ms Wilband was rolling a cigarette and using her mobile telephone when answering questions,” Ms Osborne said.
Wilband was asked whether she would like to hold her baby before she was intubated but she declined to do this, she added. Lexi was transferred to Bristol Children’s Hospital, where Wilband told doctors that Wheeler had carried Lexi upstairs in her bouncer chair and may have hit her head in the process.
She later told a ward sister that Wheeler had been “swinging the baby bouncer” while Lexi was in it, Ms Osborne said. Wheeler was arrested at the family home, which was noted by officers to be messy and untidy, with every kitchen surface covered with food and utensils.
In a prepared statement, Wheeler told police that Lexi “suddenly stopped crying and went floppy in his arms”. On April 17, a decision was made to turn off Lexi’s ventilator following the results of an MRI scan.
Wilband was with her baby for three hours that evening before leaving to go to sleep in a room in a different part of the hospital. “Ms Wilband knew that Lexi might die during the night but she didn’t stay by her bedside,” Ms Osborne said.
“A staff nurse held Lexi’s hand through the night and remained with her. On the morning of April 18, Lexi seemed to have longer pauses in her breathing. Ms Wilband was told to attend the ward.
“She arrived just after Lexi had ceased to show any signs of life and had stopped breathing.” A post-mortem examination gave Lexi’s cause of death as bleeding to the brain, caused by a non-accidental traumatic event such as someone “shaking her violently”, Ms Osborne said.
Further tests found the areas of bleeding in Lexi’s eyes were “too numerous to count”, she added. Wilband, of Newent, and Wheeler, of Ledbury, Herefordshire, deny the charges against them and the trial continues.