Parents deny murder and abuse charges over death of 13-month-old Isabella Stasiak

Left · 1Michal Stasiak, 28, and Kinga Wydrzynska, 26, pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court on Tuesday 27 October 2026 to charges relating to the death of their 13-month-old daughter, Isabella Stasiak. 1 Mixed · 2Wydrzynska is charged with murder; both parents face one count of causing or allowing the death of a child, four counts of causing or allowing serious physical harm to a child, two counts relating to sexual assault of a child, and three counts of child cruelty. 1 2 Mixed · 2Opening the case, prosecutor Annabel Darlow KC said Isabella was found "grey and lifeless" at Wydrzynska's home in the early hours of 7 January 2025 and died in hospital, with injuries including a fractured skull, fractured ribs, a broken arm and a burn covering her whole face. 1 2

Mixed · 2Darlow said medical experts concluded Isabella died from injuries consistent with a "forceful, direct impact to her head against a hard surface", and, according to the Express, that her head had also been "severely shaken"; she said the injuries were inflicted less than 12 hours before death. 1 2 Mixed · 2The prosecution said Wydrzynska was the only adult in the house when the fatal injuries were inflicted, that they were the "devastating culmination of systemic physical abuse", and that both parents were aware of an entrenched pattern of abuse, neglect and mistreatment; Darlow said neither has explained the injuries. 1 2 Mixed · 2The Express reports the jury was told Isabella had been hurt on different occasions over at least five weeks, that it became clear after her death she had also been sexually abused, and that Stasiak was not living at the home because of bail conditions after being arrested for common assault on Wydrzynska the month before. 2 1

Left · 1The court heard Isabella was born in December 2023 and taken into care, spent four months with foster parents, and was returned to her parents in April 2024; the Guardian adds that both parents were known to social services and police, and that officers visiting in October 2024 after a neighbour's complaint had no immediate safeguarding concerns. 1 Right · 1According to the Express, the prosecution alleged Wydrzynska filmed her "lifeless" daughter 17 minutes before calling 999, later deleted the videos, and made online searches including about facial burns and prison sentences for beating a child; it also said Stasiak's Facebook responses were "habitually cold and unconcerned". The trial is expected to last 12 weeks. 2