A WEST Cumbrian mum sobbed as she told a jury she would never have left her baby son alone with his father had she known he could hurt him.

Georgia Wright's former partner Reece Kelly, 31, has admitted the manslaughter of their four-month-old son Dallas but he denies murder, saying he intended no harm when he “gently” shook his son to rouse him.

The baby died on October 19, 2021, four days after Kelly dialled 999 to report that his son had stopped breathing.

It was later confirmed that Dallas had sustained a traumatic head injury, featuring bleeds in his brain, eyes and spine.

During an entire morning of cross examination, prosecutor Richard Littler KC repeatedly asked Wright, 23, about whether she knew her baby was at risk from Kelly, formerly of Hunday Court, Workington.

Mr Littler told Wright: “You knew he was liable – Reece Kelly – to explode at any moment with [his child].” She replied: “No. I'd never have [left her son]. Mr Littler said: “You knew he was a monster before October 15."

“No, I never,” said Wright.

“You left Dallas with a monster,” said Mr Littler. “I didn’t – no,” said Wright. The barrister said Wright failed to protect her baby son and allowed him to be assaulted by Reece Kelly. 

"No, I never," said Wright. “If I believed my child was harmed, I would have called 999.”

In a later exchange, Mr Littler said: “On October 15, when you went to work and you went in that taxi, you knew when you left that house you were leaving a monster who you knew was a real risk to [your son].”

Responding, Wright said: “Reece would never have been in that home if I knew he could harm my [child]. I mean that.”

Mr Littler also quizzed Wright about messages exchanged between her and Kelly, including one in which she had described their relationship as “toxic.”  

She said she meant that she did not want their relationship to become toxic and she was comparing it to a previous one which was toxic.

She spoke about an argument she and Reece Kelly had over him sending “flirtatious” messages to a woman and how she sent a message saying she “wanted out.”

During a row, he had grabbed her arm and caused it to bruise as he pushed her out of room. She said she forgave him. She denied that there was “ongoing” domestic violence in their home.

Wright said she had no idea that Dallas had sustained an earlier brain injury and a rib fracture before sustaining the traumatic head injury on October 15, 2021.

The day before that happened, when Kelly admits to have “gently” shaken their son while she was at work and causing the injuries that led to his death, she had sent him a message. She told Kelly: “You are my rock; you are my world.”

She confirmed being aware of messages from Kelly in which he said he believed Dallas was scared of him.

Questioning her about what she knew when the medical evidence of Dallas’s injures were revealed, Mr Littler said Wright must have know that Kelly’s original account of what happened when the baby stopped breathing was nonsense.

Wright said: “I believed there was another answer; I spent night after night researching, right up until this trial.” She had stood by Kelly, said Mr Littler.

She said: “I believed he didn’t harm my child, yes.” Quizzed about the street bought opiate medication she took, Wright said: “I took them for my pain. To manage it.”

David Mason KC, defending, said to Wright: “It was suggested just a moment ago that you left your son in the company of a monster. Did you have any idea at the time leading up to Dallas’s admission to hospital that you were living with a person who you now describe as a monster?”

Wright answered: “No. Never.”

“It is suggested,” continued Mr Mason, “that this was a domestically violent household. Did he ever lay a finger on you other than that one time?” Wright said Kelly did not.

Mr Mason asked: “Had he done that, what would you have done?” Wright said: “He would have been gone. I would have called the police and had him removed.” Mr Mason continued: “Now that you know what he’s admitted by way of what he did to Dallas, if he had assaulted you when you were together, would you feel comfortable telling this jury about it? “

“Yes,” said Wright.

The barrister then asked: “Can you remind us why you didn’t want to tell the police or the health visitor about the pain killers you were taking?”

Wright said: “Because I knew it was wrong, what I was taking. I didn’t want to admit it. But I hold my hands up to that. It was wrong. I took them to kill my pain.”

Mr Mason asked her whether, had she suspected there was a risk to Dallas from Kelly, what she have done. “I would never have left him alone with my [son]. Never. He’d never have been in the household,” she said.

The trial will resume next week.