THE half-brother and half-sister of murder accused Frankie Smith said their sibling was “really scared” and “petrified” of how her co-accused would react after photos of Star Hobson were put on Facebook.

Ben Smith and Alicia Szepler both described how Smith appeared fearful after photos of one-year-old Star were put on social media in August 2020, a month before Star’s death.

Frankie Smith, 20, and girlfriend Savannah Brockhill, 28, both from Keighley, deny murdering Star Hobson on September 22, 2020, and also causing or allowing the toddler’s death.

Giving evidence today, both Mr Smith and Miss Szepler described how Smith reacted when the photos had been put on social media, after Miss Szepler, who was looking after Star, had visited the home of Anita Smith, Star’s great-grandmother.

Miss Szepler agreed when asked by Zafar Ali QC, for Smith, if Smith had got “very upset when she saw the photos and begged for them to be removed, and she was scared how Brockhill would react to the photos”

In a text message sent by Miss Szepler to Brockhill, she said: “Frankie went mad at us last night for our aunt putting a photo up, does she really have to be so scared of you seeing it?”

In his evidence, Mr Smith, while being questioned by prosecutor Alistair MacDonald QC, said he bumped into Miss Szepler in the street while she was minding Star.

Anita Smith’s long-term partner, David Fawcett, took a photo of Star and put it on Facebook. Mr Smith said it had been some time since they’s seen Star at this point.

He said: “After about 10 minutes Frankie came running down saying, ‘take that picture off, I don’t want Savannah seeing it’.”

When asked what Smith was scared of, he replied: “Savannah [Brockhill].”

Under cross-examination from Kath Goddard QC, for Brockhill, when asked if Smith had ever told him she was scared of Brockhill, he said: “ She was scared of Brockhill, punching her about.

“When she came telling us to take the pictures down, she was petrified, she was shaking, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The Honourable Mrs Justice Lambert DBE then asked Mr Smith if Smith had told him she was scared.

He replied: “You could just tell she was petrified.”

When asked by Mr Ali if Smith was “petrified”, he answered: “Yeah she was shaking.”

Mr Smith also spoke about a time he was sent a video by Natasha Maddocks of Star at the end of August 2020, when asked by Mr MacDonald.

He said in the photo “Star had bruising all round her ears, all round her cheeks and down the side of her little face,” and it made him feel “sick”.

He showed it to Anita Smith, his grandmother, who called the police.

“I wasn’t happy at all, I just wanted to go and get Star, but Anita told me I’d be done for kidnap if I did.”

He said when police attended Smith’s flat no one was present, and that Smith, Brockhill and Star had gone to Scotland.

He also told of a time he saw Smith and her mother Yvonne Spendley in the pub on September 12, 2020.

He said he asked “who you’ve dumped Star with again” and said he was “disgusted” and “still fuming about the video”, but Smith said Star was “fine”.

Both Mr Smith and Miss Szepler also said that prior to meeting Brockhill, everything had been fine with Smith.

They accepted she was a “lazy” mother, relying on her mother and grandmother to look after Star, but that “everything changed” when Brockhill arrived.

When asked by Zafar Ali if Smith developed a “strange and unhealthy obsession with Brockhill”, if they would “sit on FaceTime for hours and Smith would have to be prompted to look after Star”, Miss Szepler agreed, and also accepted the “bond between Smith and Star was weaker after Brockhill arrived”.

Also asked by Zafar Ali if Smith had been “trying her best” in the first few months of Star’s life, Mr Smith agreed.

Asked if “everything started changing when Smith met Brockhill”, he agreed.

He said her personality changed, and how she dressed changed.

“Her accent changed,” he added, “she started talking like a traveller.

“I said why are you speaking like that. I told her to get out.”

Smith also told him that when she came home in March 2020 covered in bruises she’d been “fighting in Bradford”, Mr Ali said.

“But you didn’t believe her, she’s not a fighter,” he added, to which Mr Smith agreed.

He agreed that Smith was “completely obsessed” with Brockhill.

Mr Ali asked if he thought Smith should have done more to protect Star. Mr Smith agreed.

Smith’s aunt, Melissa Dalby, also gave evidence, telling the court on the day after Star’s death, in a phone call to Yvonne Spendley, Brockhill said “we’re going down for murder”.

Gillian Batts, for Brockhill, challenged Dalby, saying Brockhill said that phone call never happened, but Ms Dalby stood firm and said it did.

The trial continues.