Trio charged over baby girl's manslaughter

Officers were contacted at shortly after 9.30am on March 23 last year by the ambulance service who were treating 19 month old Ellie May Minshull-Coyle at an address on Ward Street in the town.

She died a short time later at the Royal Preston Hospital and a probe was launched.

Reece Hitchcott, 19, of The Fieldings, Fulwood - and formerly of Barn Meadow, Bamber Bridge, near Preston- is accused of Ellie May’s manslaughter, causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable child, and two counts of neglecting or ill treating a child between January 1 and March 23 last year.

Lauren Coyle, 19, of Collins Road, Bamber Bridge, Preston, and Connor Kirby, 20, of Octavia Court, Huyton, Liverpool - formerly Windrows, Skelmersdale - are accused of the same charges.

A Lancashire Police spokesman said: “Three people have been charged following the death of a 19 month old baby girl.”

He said it followed a police investigation and after consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service.

All three defendants were bailed to appear at Preston Magistrates’ Court on Thursday February 22.