The mother of murdered toddler Star Hobson has had her jail sentence increased by four years.
Frankie Smith was initially sentenced to eight years imprisonment for causing or allowing the death of Star, but her term has now been raised to 12 years behind bars, The Mirror reports. The toddler was only 16 months old at the time of her death.
Frankie's former lover, Savannah Brockhill, was also handed a minimum of 25 years imprisonment after being found guilty of murder. Star's father, Jordan Hobson, who is a student at the University of Sunderland has since spoke of how he will 'never recover' from his daughter's death.
Go here for the latest crime news and breaking North East police updates
He said: “The horrific death of my beautiful baby daughter has left me devastated and I will never recover from the callous and cruel way in which Star was taken from me. No sentence that a court can impose will ever bring back my precious daughter.
“I would now request privacy so that I can start to grieve and begin to try and pick up the pieces of my life.”
Smith's sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Attorney General, with Suella Braverman stating the case was "tragic and extremely upsetting" and she believes Smith's sentence was "unduly lenient".
Senior judges decided to increase the Keighley mum's sentence at a hearing at 10.30am.
Star died after she was taken to hospital in September 2020, having suffered “utterly catastrophic” and “unsurvivable” injuries at Brockhill’s hands. During the trial, jurors heard Smith’s family and friends had growing fears about bruising they saw on the little girl in the months before she died and made a series of complaints to social services.
In each case Brockhill and Smith, both of Keighley, managed to convince social workers that marks on Star were accidental or that the complaints were made maliciously by people who did not like their relationship.
Prosecutors described how the injuries that caused Star’s death involved extensive damage to her abdominal cavity “caused by a severe and forceful blow or blows, either in the form of punching, stamping or kicking to the abdomen”.
Jurors also heard there were other injuries on her body which meant that “in the course of her short life, Star had suffered a number of significant injuries at different times”.
Sentencing Brockhill and Smith, judge Mrs Justice Lambert said Star’s “short life was marked by neglect, cruelty and injury”. She was found to have suffered two brain injuries, numerous ribs fractures, the fracture and re-fracture of her leg, and a skull fracture when she died.
Today, Dame Victoria Sharp, sitting with Mr Justice Sweeney and Mr Justice Jeremy Baker, found that the sentencing judge was wrong to reduce Smith's sentence from the starting point based on mitigation, including of her losing her daughter.
"On the facts of this case, where Miss Smith had treated Star with such cruelty... the judge was wrong to identify this as a mitigating feature and then give it the weight she did."
Dame Victoria continued: "There was little, if any, to be said in mitigation. In our judgement no less a sentence than 12 years would meet the justice of this case."
The judge said that Star was "particularly vulnerable due to her very young age", and that "self-evidently, Miss Smith was in a position of trust".
Star died after Brockhill kicked or punched her in the stomach with all the force of a crashing car, according to a medical expert.
Brockhill and Smith would force the child to face the wall despite being so weak she could hardly stand, while filming their abuse of her. Brockhill put music to a clip of Star toppling off a chair and hitting her head and sent it to friends with the caption: "I've laughed so hard."
