A couple accused of deliberately starving their three-year-old daughter to death over many months have denied her murder.
Three-year-old Penelope Chandle was found by police in a very ’emaciated’ state, with her body wrapped in a sheet and bruising on her neck, on December 17, 2023.
Her parents, Jaskiret Singh Uppal, 36, and Manpreet Jatana, 34, appeared via video link from HMP Pentonville and Bronzefield at the Old Bailey today to plead not guilty.
An examination found the cause of death was malnutrition, with the court hearing that before she died, the family’s diet consisted of yoghurt, lentils and butter.
Marks on Penelope’s neck were found to be ‘consistent with the use of bindings’, and injuries to her hands were those inflicted with a sharp object such as a knife, the court heard.
Prosecutor Philip McGhee previously said the Crown’s case was that the defendants mistreated their daughter over an ‘extended period of time’ and ‘deliberately starved’ her, leading to her death.
The court also heard that the couple failed to register Penelope’s birth, provide her with GP care or education as they ‘isolated’ themselves.
When Penelope died, it is alleged that her parents initially thought of cremating the body in the back garden of their home in Hayes, west London, before contacting a funeral director.
The defendants, who met at university, had not worked for some time and lived in a house belonging to Uppal’s father.
They also denied manslaughter, causing or allowing the death of a child and child cruelty. The case will go to trial on January 11, 2027.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that a three-year-old boy who was starved to death on a vegan diet and buried in his family’s garden was ‘invisible’ to child services.
Abiyah Yasharahyalah’s body was discovered in December 2022 in a 3ft deep grave after his parents, Tai and Naiyahmi, were evicted.
The couple, aged 42 and 43, fed Abiyah a vegan diet without any supplements after forming what they viewed as their own religion, following a legal framework Tai had invented.
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This diet caused chronic malnutrition, leading to his death from a respiratory illness in early 2020.
When he was exhumed at the family home in Birmingham, a post-mortem found he had broken, deformed bones, rickets, anaemia, stunted growth and dental disease.
Tai, 42, was jailed for over 25 years, while Naiyahmi, 43, received 19 years.
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