Doctor says mum told him baby died in car

Dr Olatunde Macaulay said Sarah-Jane Collins came to see him at Basildon Hospital three days after her 19-month-old daughter Aimee Collins died.

Dr Macaulay told the jury at Basildon Crown Court today that Sarah-Jane, 22, told him she found Aimee dead in the back of a car and she had to call an ambulance.

He also said the young woman was with her mother Wendy-Jane Collins, who asked him to give her daughter medication to help her "calm down" and for a medical certificate as she was due to be interviewed by police that day.

Dr Macaulay said: "The mother said that she was going to be a witness to police. She was stressed and upset about what had happened and was asking for something to calm her down."

He said he prescribed Sarah-Jane medication but told her she would have to see her GP about getting signed off.

On cross examination by Michael Topolski, counsel for the defence, Dr Macaulay accepted he had not recorded the conversation in the early hours of December 9 2005 when Sarah-Jane spoke about the child dying in the car, but it did take place.

He added: "To enter all the details of contact can be extremely difficult but when the police came I was able to recall the events on that day, what the mother and grandmother told me."

Dr Jacqueline Askwith, a consultant pediatrician who battled to resuscitate Aimee when she was admitted to the hospital on December 6 2005 also gave evidence and said she was initially concerned when she examined the toddler and found there was evidence of bleeding behind her eyes and there were bruises on her face and arm.

But she accepted the buising may have been caused by the attempts to resuscitate Aimee and the bleeding may have been caused by her cough as she had been unwell.

Colin Kendrick, 31, denies losing his temper and shaking Aimee to death at the home he shared with Sarah-Jane and her children in Eden Green, South Ockendon.

The trial continues.