Mum accused of stamping her girl to death claimed child benefit for six months after she died

Smith and Rigby both deny killing their daughter Ayeeshia SWNS

A MUM accused of stamping her toddler daughter to death claimed child benefits for six months after she died, a court has heard.
Giving evidence for the first time tearful Kathryn Smith also told a court tragic Ayeeshia Jane Smith’s stepfather was the last person to see her alive.
She told how her then partner Matthew Rigby joined her in the kitchen "a couple of moments" after she left him and the 21-month-olf in the tot's bedroom on
May 1 2014.

Tearful mum Smith gave evidence for first time today SWNS

The 23-year-old told a jury that a few moments later they both heard her child "gasp" and she, along with Rigby, ran to the room to find the 21-month-old lying on her side in the cot, pale, lips bubbling and "staring out of the window".
Smith was asked by her barrister John Butterfield QC when Rigby had joined her in the kitchen where she was preparing dinner.
She replied: "A couple of moments later."
It also emerged that Smith failed to tell the authorities her daughter had died, claiming child benefit for six months after the death.

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Earlier, she had been asked about a 999 call she made from the couple's home in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, in the early hours of April 4 2014, where she urged police to take Rigby away.
She told police: "I'm scared of Matthew, I do not want him near my daughter or me again, he can't control his temper."
Smith was then asked about why she retracted her statement to the police about 22-year-old Rigby.

Little Ayeeshia was allegedly stamped to death by her mum and stepdad

She told jurors at Birmingham Crown Court: "I had time to think about it, and I might have overreacted."
Both Smith and Rigby deny murdering the "happy and smiley" little girl, after she died from a heart laceration which the prosecution said was caused by a foot stamp.
The child, who was known to social services, also had a number of other historic injuries including bruising and a brain bleed.
Ayeeshia had been taken into care between June and October 2013, over social workers' concerns about Smith's troubled relationship with another boyfriend.
Smith spoke frankly about a cannabis habit, admitting she had used it "two or three times a week" with Rigby, but never in the house.

Smith told how stepfather Rigby was the last person to see Ayeeshia alive SWNS

She admitted using a Tommee Tippee to store her cannabis had been "wrong" but that the screw-top plastic cup was broken and never used to feed her daughter.
The prosecution heard from a neighbour of the couple who reported in one incident hearing a child shout: "Stop mummy, stop daddy".
However, Smith said that AJ did not have the necessary speech to say such a phrase and in any case knew Rigby as "Matt-Matt".
On the day she died, Smith and Rigby had been trying to get her to use her potty after a "perfect" outing to see the child's grandparents.
Smith said: "AJ got really upset, so I popped my head around the kitchen door, to see AJ in the bedroom and said to Matt 'just leave it she's not going to do it'.
She added: "As soon as I said 'leave it', AJ stood up and started clapping and smiling."

Little Ayeeshia Jane, known as AJ, was allegedly stamped to death by the couple SWNS

The little girl asked her mother for some juice, and as Smith left the child's bedroom to fill the bottle, she was aware of Rigby joining her in the kitchen.
Smith, who was in floods of tears in the witness box, described what happened next, saying: "I heard a gasp from AJ.
"Me and Matt were in the kitchen and we looked at each other, so I knew he'd heard it.
"We went into her bedroom and she was just lay (sic) there.
"AJ was lay on her left-hand side, staring out the window and she looked all pale and her lips were blue and her mouth was bubbling."
The couple attempted to resuscitate the girl, with Smith dialling 999 within three minutes, but despite the best efforts of hospital doctors nothing could be done to save the girl.
Smith, of Sandfield Road, Nottingham and Rigby, of Sloan Drive, Nottingham, also deny causing or allowing the death of a child and cruelty.