Mother found guilty of murdering young daughter

LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) A young mother and her partner were jailed for life for murdering her four-year-old daughter after subjecting the child to horrific abuse.

Sharon Wright and McKenzie-Seaton were found guilty at Bradford Crown Court of killing Leticia Wright.

Wright, 23, and McKenzie-Seaton, 22, denied murdering the child at their home in Huddersfield in November last year.

The court heard during a four-week trial how Leticia was found naked and suffering multiple injuries, including to her head and abdomen equivalent to a major road traffic accident.

The police officer in charge of the investigation described the case as the worst he had ever been involved in.

''This has truly been an horrific case,'' Detective Superintendent Paul Taylor of West Yorkshire Police said yesterday.

Taylor described Wright and McKenzie-Seaton as ''very unpleasant people'' who had not been fit to look after a child. ''These two people wanted to be together and Leticia was in the way,'' he said.

The couple was handed a minimum sentence of 23 years each for the girl's murder.

In the weeks before the death, the girl was seen standing as if in a ''vigil'' at her bedroom window, according to media reports. The girl looked sad but would smile and wave back at the neighbours who waved up at her.

The court heard two neighbours became so concerned they rang social services.

The court heard that at one point Leticia complained to two of her aunts - the sisters of her natural father Zaheer Hussain - that McKenzie-Seaton, a cannabis addict with a history of violence, would come to her room and smack her.

She also told them: ''I don't like Mummy''.

After the verdict her father described Leticia as ''beautiful'' with ''everything to live for.'' Two social workers from Kirklees Council visited the house and met Leticia and her mother but found the girl of normal weight with no obvious injuries.

After checking that Leticia had been registered with a local nursery, her file was closed.

A council spokesman defended the local authority's handling of the case, which included a review carried out by an independent professional.

''The tragic death of Leticia could not have been foreseen,'' Paul Johnson, head of safeguarding at Kirklees Council, said outside the court, quoting from the review.

But he conceded certain aspects could ''have been handled differently''.

REUTERS SRS RAI0505