The mother of the murdered toddler Star Hobson has had her eight-year prison sentence for causing or allowing her daughter's death extended to 12 years.
Star Hobson was just sixteen months old when she was murdered by her mother's girlfriend, Savannah Brockhill.
In December last year at Bradford Crown Court, Brockhill was jailed for life with a minimum of 25 years behind bars whilst her mother, Frankie Smith, was also found guilty of causing or allowing her daughter's death and given an eight-year jail term.
At the time that sentence was described as unduly lenient, and this morning the appeal court heard that there had been several 'aggravating factors' including an eleven-minute delay before an ambulance had been called.
Three senior judges agreed that this, combined with the child's vulnerability, warranted a more severe jail term and have now extended Frankie Smith's sentence to 12 years in jail.
Due to the young age of Ms. Smith, who is just twenty herself, she will serve her sentence in a Young Offender's Institution.
During today's appeal representatives for the Attorney General argued that, in the initial trial, too much importance had been given to mitigating factors.
Representatives pointed to the extent of Brockhill's abuse of the child and said that there was evidence Smith had been a neglectful and cruel mother, even before entering into a relationship with her child's killer.
They also argued that Smith's youth, immaturity and low IQ did not affect her decision-making in this situation.
In Smith's defense, Zafar Ali QC countered that claims the mother was without remorse were "incorrect" and the case was "permeated by domestic abuse".
Smith broke down numerous times during the trial, reports The Telegraph and Argus, and apologised in court for her conduct.
As the verdict was given, Dame Victoria Sharp, President of the Queen's Bench Division, said: "Star's treatment at the hands of both Brockhill and Smith was harrowing and deeply disturbing.
"We have viewed images which showed many injuries to Star's body; they were deeply distressing images of physical assaults, punishments, mistreatment and neglect to Star.
"Smith accepted she mistreated Star and her behaviour accounted to cruelty. The maximum charge for this is 10 years.
"There were at least eight instances identified, each captured on video. Having seen these images, we do not accept these are the full picture of this.
"There was a consistent pattern of cruelty by Smith towards her daughter in the months before her death.
"Smith should have foreseen what happened to Star by what she had seen happen previously when she returned from Brockhill with serious injuries."
She picked out four points as to why the sentence passed was too lenient: prolonged incidents of cruelty; degradation of the victim; deliberate disregard of Star; and a failure to protect Star from risk.
"In mitigation, there was a mismatch by the Judge. She said Smith's low IQ and immaturity did not excuse her behaviour, but nothing was said as to why it would materially reduce her culpability.
"The Judge referred to Brockhill's violence towards Smith which would make it more difficult for her to report problems. But the Judge earlier found this had been exaggerated and that Smith had chosen to remain in this relationship for her own selfish purposes.
"There was nothing linking the abuse to Smith with her abuse to Star.
"As for Smith's lack of previous convictions, this carries very little weight in this case, as on her own admission she could have been indicted for a serious of offences for child cruelty.
"The final point, to which very significant weight was attached, the loss of her daughter.
"We can never say the point is irrelevant, but what we can say is in this case, where Smith treated Star with such neglect and indifference, the Judge was wrong to attach so much weight to this."
Feature image - Facebook
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The Boots recycling scheme where you can get £5 off every shop
UK high street retailer and healthcare shop Boots has launched an innovative recycling scheme that entitles customers to £5 off their future shopping trips.
If you're still struggling to come up with a New Year's resolution, why not try a spot of recycling and earn some money off your next cosmetics shop while you're at it?
Started in 2020, the Boots Recycling Scheme allows Advantage Card holders the opportunity to get money while also being more conscious about how we recycle our used health and beauty products.
Their third party app Recycle at Boots uses a Scan2Recycle system where users can upload items from various beauty brands by taking a picture of the empty packaging before identifying its form.
This scheme takes items that can't usually be recycled at home such as lotion pumps, toothpaste tubes, lipstick, mascaras, travel minis, make-up palettes and more.
Images: Publicity pictures (supplied)
Once you have five items approved, head over to your nearest participating Boots store, drop off your empties and scan the QR code on the deposit box.
After you've followed all these steps, a voucher will appear entitling you to 500 Advantage Points when you spend £10 in-store, and not only do you have £5 worth of points with your name on it, you're also an eco-warrior.
There's even a dedicated section of the app to recycling empty medicine and vitamin blister packs which gives customers 100 Advantage Points, when you spend £5 in-store - This is brill.
Items dropped into these deposit boxes are taken to MyGroup, a recycling and waste management service which works around the clock to help divert waste from landfill.
These empties will be washed and traditionally recycled into a material called MyBoard, a construction board material most similar to plywood with lots of different uses.
Nearest Boots locations in Manchester running the Recycle at Boots scheme:
Leeds Trinity - 1 Bond Street, LS1 5EY
Leeds Kirkstall - Savins Mill Way, LS5 3RP
White Rose Shopping Centre - Lower Level, Leeds, LS11 8LL
Thorpe Park - Unit 3 The Springs, LS15 8GG
Birstall Retail Park - Batley, West Yorkshire, WF7417 9DT
If you're up for getting money off your next Boots splurge while also helping recycle cosmetics containers and more, you can download the Recycle at Boots app and find your nearest HERE.
Featured Images - Publicity Pictures (Supplied)
News
Get Baked announces shock closure of Headingley bakery due to a ‘significant rise in rent’
Clementine Hall
Viral bakery Get Baked will be closing the doors of its Headingley bakery at the end of next month.
It’s safe to say that Get Baked is a proper Leeds success story, opening five years ago and fast becoming one of the most viral bakeries in the UK.
Customers had their fingers on the pulse to grab a slice of that oh so mighty chocolate cake week in, week out, and us locals felt very lucky to have a Get Baked on our doorstep.
But unfortunately, this won’t be the case anymore as today the bakery has announced they’ll be closing their Headingley site for good.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Owner Rich took to Instagram to announce the sad news, he said: “These are words I never envisaged myself writing, but I must share with you all the news that at the end of February, our Headingley store will be closing.
“When we opened the site 5 years ago, it was a requirement of the landlord that the lease was personally guaranteed — at the time I had little to lose, and didn’t think twice.
“Now our lease is up for renewal, with the same requirement for me to personally guarantee it — the difference being that I have a lot more to lose, and with a significant rise in rent and rates, paired with the obvious strains on hospitality that everyone’s more than aware of — I can no longer personally guarantee the lease.
"The new lease would mean that the price we lay out in Headingley would exceed the amount we pay for our site in Manchester City centre, which for the style of business that we are, is just madness.
"Being busy is no longer enough to make most hospitality sites work, you have to squeeze so hard to the point where there’s no real fun left — record sales weeks become less of a joy, and more of a necessity.
"For complete transparency, the business has grown to a point where we have to take £500,000 a month to break even — it’s very scary, but it’s all a result of the rapid growth that we’ve undergone over the last few years.
"We are extremely lucky to have a very strong online business. We serve thousands of customers every week delivering desserts all over the country — online is very much the future of GB.
"I have an enormous amount of gratitude for the teams that we’ve had in Headingley over the last five years — we’ve employed some incredible people that played a pivotal role in the businesses success.
"Without them, we wouldn’t be where we are — I’m extremely grateful. I must also thank our customers — when we relaunched the business from nothing in 2021, we were welcomed with open arms.
"OG customers from the previous iteration of GB came back like it had never left, it was truly remarkable. I’m conscious that Headingley serves some of our most loyal and regular customers, and I am so grateful to you all for your support over the years. We will close the doors on Saturday the 28th of February."
If you’re still looking to get your Get Baked fix, you can either order online or take a trip across the Pennines to visit their bakery in Manchester City Centre.
The Hoot -
15th March 2022 
