A BABY, who was allegedly murdered by her mother’s boyfriend, received injuries similar to those of a car crash victim, a court heard.

One-year-old Orianna Crilly-Cifrova suffered multiple skull fractures and a bleed on the brain, according to Professor Stavros Michael Stivaros, who appeared as an expert witness at Manchester Crown Court.

Jurors heard that injuries to the little girl’s blood vessels suggested she had been violently shaken and she died due to swelling on the brain.

Jamie Chadwick, 22, is accused of killing Orianna at the flat he shared with his girlfriend and sister on Cross Lane in Radcliffe.

The court earlier heard the baby’s injuries were consistent with her being swung against a wall, stamped on or hit with a blunt object.

Prof Stivaros, who examined the child, said: “There wasn’t just soft tissue swelling. There was also a very complicated fracture to the base of her head.

“That went from the right hand side all the way across to the left hand side. There was another discreet area in the back of her head where there was buckling to the bone.

“In addition, there was injury to the brain itself, with swelling to the brain.”

Chadwick told police officers that Orianna fell down two steps that led into the flat’s bathroom but Prof Stivaros told jurors that her injuries were more serious than those caused by “low level domestic trauma”.

He said: “The degree of injury Orianna had suffered is similar to one you’d see in an accident setting of a high impact, following a motor vehicle accident. I’ve seen similar injuries in children involved in car crashes.”

Brain scans carried out on the baby showed a lack of oxygen being supplied to brain and two types of bleeding within her head.

He said: “When I see multiple location bleeding, it’s a sign of bleeding which is not due to an impact trauma, but due to a shaking injury where the head has been moved backwards and forwards to cause rupture of the blood vessels.”

Prof Stivaros added the injuries were not caused by “normal handling of a child”.

Earlier in the trial, details of Orianna’s post mortem examination revealed the baby had suffered injuries, which are thought to have happened before her death in October 2019.

The court heard that Orianna’s mother Chelsea Crilly, was warned about Chadwick, who was under investigation after another woman’s baby was injured in July 2018.

The pair had been drinking and taking cocaine the night before Orianna’s death.

Chadwick denies murder and Crilly, 20, of Warwick Road, Atherton, has pleaded not guilty to causing or allowing the death of a child. The trial continues.