A mother accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter has admitted failing to protect her from the "brutal" behaviour of her partner and prioritising her relationship over her child's welfare.

In her third day in the witness box at Ipswich Crown Court, Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell said Scott Jeff had become increasingly violent towards her daughter Isabella Wheildon in the weeks before her death.

She said she had seen Jeff punch Isabella in the head and kick her from head to toe and accepted that she shouldn't have allowed the "brutal" behaviour to happen.

Asked by prosecution counsel Sally Howes KC if she had prioritised her relationship with Jeff over the welfare of her child she replied: "I would say so".

She claimed that Jeff had "been calm one minute and really angry the next like he wanted to kill someone the next".

She said he had punished Isabella for wetting herself by putting her in a cold shower and also force fed her if she didn’t eat her food quickly enough.

Gleason-Mitchell said that if Isabella cried Jeff would hit her more and he had dressed her in long sleeved clothing and put sunglasses on her to hide bruises on her face and body.

She claimed that Jeff had repeatedly smacked Isabella’s hands while toilet training her leaving her hands swollen and had hit her legs to make her go to the toilet.

Cross-examined by Miss Howes, Gleason Mitchell-Gleason said that if Isabella had asked for ‘mummy’ Jeff would say: “No. It’s daddy”.

She said that in the days before her death it seemed that Isabella had become “immune” to assaults by Jeff.

“It was like she was getting used to being hit and wouldn’t cry when it started,” she said.

She said that Jeff had insisted on comforting Isabella after assaulting her.

Jeff and Gleason-Mitchell, both 24 and of no fixed address, have denied murdering Isabella between June 26-30 last year.

In addition to denying murder, Jeff has also denied causing or allowing the death of a child between June 26-30 last year and two offences of cruelty to a child.

Gleason-Mitchell has pleaded guilty to causing or allowing the death of a child and two offences of cruelty to a child under 16.

Isabella's body was found in her pushchair in temporary housing in Sidegate Lane, Ipswich in June last year.

The trial continues.