A "beautiful and bright" little girl was brutally murdered by her mum's new partner just months after he added her on Facebook.
Lola James was just months away from her third birthday when Kyle Bevan subjected her to a barrage of violence which left his with more than 100 bruises, puncture wounds and abrasions.
The tot, from Wales, died in July 2020 as a result of her catastrophic brain injuries, which Bevan would claim came as a result of her falling down the stairs.
Lola's mum Sinead James was asleep upstairs and saw and heard nothing of the incident, WalesOnline reports.
Bevan, 31, was subsequently charged with murder, while James, 30, was charged with causing or allowing the death of a child by failing to protect her from a foreseeable risk.
Bevan and James met in February 2020 after he made a friend request to her on Facebook, just five months before the youngster was killed, before meeting in person.
It was a matter of days before he was living in the family home in Haverfordwest.
Just weeks before she met Bevan, James had broken off a violent and abusive relationship which she was receiving support from a number of agencies for.
Part of this included courses on how to recognise domestic abusers and being told not to invite adults into the family if she didn't know them well.
A report from a health visitor revealed James found Lola "very demanding" and had declined support for the tot to see a speech therapist. There were also concerns about her ability to keep on top of her home conditions and it was described as "cluttered, dirty and smelling damp".
A trial at Swansea Crown Court heard how there were numerous rows via text of Facebook messenger between "Jekyll and Hyde" character Bevan and his partner, including incidents where Bevan would punch the wall or smash it with a hammer.
In one argument Bevan told James to "come get your f****** child." He later messaged her saying: "You’re being a f****** a***hole Sinead, sly as f***. I’m not bothering anymore. You have p***** me off last night and you have p***** me off this morning. I have got weed here for your mum and you didn’t even give it to her."
In another, James fumed at her new partner Bevan for keeping Lola up to the early hours of the morning.
She said: "What’s up with you? She needs to be in bed. It’s 4am." Bevan messaged back: "It was one f****** night Sinead, she was falling asleep while playing and I was going to carry her up. I wanted to give her a cuddle to sleep but you f****** it up."
James also described her daughter as "a little bitch" after she woke up screaming following a bad dream and that she was "doing her head in".
In one back and forth, James complained about Bevan's drug taking and told him to "get out" of her life and the house.
He replied by calling her a "f****** horrible sly c***, horrible" and saying "f*** you lying, cheating, childish, c***".
During a police interview Bevan described his and James's relationship as "pretty good" most of the time, as well as admitting to going through her phone to "keep an eye on her".
The court also heard how James received a "mother to mother" text from the mum of Bevan's former partner raising concerns about the individual.
But Bevan, and his mother, dismissed it as nonsense.
On another occasion Lola was being looked after by Bevan while James went out for the day. On her return the child had a nasty bruise to her nose and under her eyes, which Bevan claimed came after the dog knocked her off the sofa and into the coffee table.
The trial heard how Bevan's behaviour should have set alarm bells ringing for James, considering her experience of domestic violence, but it did not.
On the night before her injuries, James went to bed early and let Bevan put Lola to sleep.
James was woken at around midnight by a bang and a scream and as she went to Lola's room she found Bevan with the toddler at the foot of her bed with the murderer claiming she had hit her head but he would take care of it.
When asked why she didn't put her child to bed or care for her after this, James said she "didn't want the confrontation" with Bevan.
It's not clear exactly what happened in the following hours, but by 6.30am on July 17, Lola was seriously ill, unconscious and battered black and blue.
The trial heard violent shaking and possibly a powerful blow to the head were the likely mechanisms for the bleeding on the brain and the bleeding deep in the eyes doctors later found.
Whatever happened that morning Bevan did not seek medical help for Lola or wake her mother up.
His internet search history revealed he had searched about a child banging its head and going "limp", and sending messages to his mother, who was the one who eventually rang 999, to request an ambulance.
At around 7.20am Bevan woke James to tell her her daughter had fallen down the stairs.
James found her little girl, her face and lips swollen and bruised, lying unconscious on the sofa in the living room.
Lola was rushed first to Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest and then to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, but died from injuries.
Giving his version of events to police, Bevan explained: "Basically I was up all night, I was downstairs, have you been in the house? It’s easier to explain… When you go in there there’s a long corridor and the stairs are there.
"I went to make a coffee and saw Lola at the top of the stairs with nothing on. ‘Are you alright babe? Do you want some cereal?’. She said ‘Yeah’.
"I assumed she ripped her nappy off before you question me on that… I could hear footsteps on the ceiling upstairs and next thing I heard was two or three massive bangs. Boom, boom, boom. I came running around the corner and she was on the floor and I really did panic right, and I tried like basically because I didn’t, at first I thought she was out cold to be honest.
"I thought she was out cold, I waited to see if she came around. I knew I shouldn’t have, I realised she was snoring and that’s choking on your tongue. I put my hands in her mouth and a sheet for her to chew on so she wouldn’t chew her tongue, a bit of her tongue had cut off, bit a chunk at the end.
"I knew I should have left her but I picked her up and put her on the sofa and I tried to get her dressed because she was freezing cold. I put clothes on her and tried to blow in her mouth. I tried everything."
Despite protesting his innocence to the police during numerous interviews he refused to give evidence at the trial.
He was described as a "bully and coward" by the prosecution who "didn't have the guts" to look jurors in the eyes and answer questions on oath.
James did give evidence and told the jury she no idea that Bevan was capable of causing her daughter serious harm, saying if she had thought such a thing she would have got him out of the house.
The prosecution said she had failed her daughter, and had prioritised her relationship with her partner over the welfare and safety of her daughter.
After deliberating for just under 10 hours over the course of three days the jury found Bevan guilty of murdering Lola, and found James guilty of allowing or causing her death. The pair will be sentenced on April 25.
