Paul Worthington, 49, will be forced to live in hiding after a judge made public the conclusion that he sexually abused 13-month-old Poppi hours before her death
Poppy Worthington’s aunt has claimed her father has ‘nothing to hide’ after police discovered a laptop he allegedly watched porn on before her tragic death.
The 13-month old girl was found suffocated in 50-year-old dad Paul’s bed back in 2012.
And it is believed the laptop could hold vital evidence which could conclusively prove what happened to the tot.
But Tracy Worthington, 47, said her brother Paul believes he has nothing to worry about after the laptop was discovered by cops, claiming investigators would find nothing ‘to incriminate him’.
Ms Worthington, who spoke to her brother after the discovery, claimed he had always been ‘absolutely truthful’ to investigators.
‘He told them he was watching adult porn, but that isn’t illegal. If he hadn’t told the police he was watching porn, they would have been none the wiser,’ She told the Sun.
‘He didn’t need to tell them that. He has nothing to hide.’
The laptop had been missing for some time after a botched police operation which saw Worthington walk free despite a coroner ruling at an inquest in January he had sexually assaulted Poppi the night she died.
Home Office pathologist Alison Armour said today Poppi’s post-mortem examination showed the 13-month-old had reddened inner thighs and bruising and small tears to her rectum
Tracey Worthington believes her brother Paul has ‘nothing to hide’ with regards the recent laptop discovery
No charges were brought against Worthington because of faults in the police operation which included failure to take the laptop in as evidence at the time of the tot’s death.
But Cumbria Constabulary re-opened their investigation into Worthington shortly after the ruling in January.
Cops have now tracked the computer down and are examining it with the help of forensic and data experts.
A Cumbria Constabulary spokesman said: ‘The Constabulary can confirm that during the course of their inquiries officers have recovered a number of items, including a laptop.
‘The laptop is subject to meticulous forensic examination, by specialist officers, to determine whether it is relevant to potential inquiries concerning Poppi Worthington.’
A coroner ruled Poppi was sexually abused after her father took her into his bed (pictured)
‘Irregular’ inquest, a father in hiding and an ‘unstructured’ approach by police: Timeline of Poppi’s death
Here are the key events surrounding the death of Poppi Worthington:
- December 12 2012 – Poppi Worthington dies suddenly aged 13 months after she collapses at her home in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, and is rushed to hospital.
- February 2013 – Poppi is buried after the coroner releases her body.
- June 2013 – A full post-mortem report indicates the cause of death is unascertained.
- August 2013 – Poppi’s parents are arrested and formally interviewed for the first time. Poppi’s father, Paul Worthington, is questioned on suspicion of sexually assaulting his daughter – an allegation he denies.
- March 2014 – Fact-finding judgment on the circumstances of Poppi’s death is delivered in private as part of family court proceedings involving other children in the family. Its publication is delayed in case it prejudices any criminal trial.
- October 2014 – HM Coroner for South Cumbria, Ian Smith – now retired – holds an inquest at Barrow Town Hall and takes just seven minutes to declare her death as unexplained after stating he was satisfied to rely on the findings of the private fact-finding judgment. The case is not listed in Poppi’s name but as ‘a child aged 13 months’.
- January 2015 – HM Senior Coroner for Cumbria, David Roberts, confirms he will ask for a fresh inquest in a written reply to lawyers representing various media organisations who argued the October hearing was insufficient and therefore unlawful.
- March 2015 – Cumbria Police announce no charges will be brought against anyone over Poppi’s death after they had previously passed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service for its consideration.
- April 2015 – Paul Worthington is granted a review of the March 2014 medical evidence, which further delays publication of the original fact-finding judgment.
- July 2015 – High Court judges order a fresh inquest into the youngster’s death after the first hearing was deemed ‘irregular’.
- November 2015 – A hearing reviewing the medical evidence from the March 2014 court proceedings gets under way in Liverpool. Ahead of the hearing, Mr Justice Peter Jackson (now Lord Justice Peter Jackson) releases parts of his original fact-finding judgment which reveal that Cumbria Police did not conduct any ‘real’ investigation into Poppi’s death for nine months despite a senior pathologist raising concerns the girl’s injuries were caused by ‘a penetrative sexual assault’.
- January 19 2016 – The judge announced his findings that – on the balance of probabilities – Mr Worthington had sexually assaulted Poppi shortly before her death.
- January 21 2016 – Paul Worthington’s sister Tracy tells reporters that he has left Cumbria after being ‘hounded’.
- June 2016 – A Serious Case Review finds that Poppi’s mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had a ‘difficult and traumatic childhood’ in a family ‘with intergenerational experiences of neglect and abuse’. It also reveals that Paul Worthington is an ex-partner of a woman who was feared to have sexually exploited Poppi’s mother.
- July 2016 – The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) says there is ‘insufficient evidence’ to charge Paul Worthington with any offence over his daughter’s death.
- November 2016 – The CPS states that its decision not to charge was correct following an independent review of the evidence, prompted by a request under the victims’ right to review scheme.
- March 3 2017 – The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) finally publishes its 2015 findings into the initial police probe over Poppi’s death. It finds the approach of senior detectives was ‘unstructured and disorganised’ and that there were enough grounds to make an arrest on the day of Poppi’s death.
- November 27, 2017 – The second inquest starts at County Hall, Kendal, and hears more than three weeks of evidence.
- January 15 2018 – HM Senior Coroner for Cumbria, David Roberts, to give his conclusions.
