Mom’s Boxer Girlfriend Made Her the Punching Bag- The Story of Star Hobson

Mom’s Boxer Girlfriend Made Her the Punching Bag- The Story of Star Hobson

“I said to the lady, ‘Look, we’re concerned. We don’t want another Baby P on our hands.’ And the lady said, ‘How do you mean?'”

Welcome or welcome back. I’m Cassie, and this is A Wicked World. The story I have for you today is one that is eerily similar to the case of Peter Connelly. It takes place in England as well, and social workers as well as police were notified that something was going on with this little girl, but nothing was done, and then it ended in tragedy. This is the story of Star Hobson.

Star Hobson was born on May 21st, 2019, in West Yorkshire, England, to her mother, Frankie Smith, and her father, Jordan Hobson. She was said to be an amazing and happy little girl who had a big smile as well as big, beautiful eyes. Star also loved music and dancing. Frankie Smith, Star’s mother, was only 17 when she gave birth to Star, and she was said to be very immature for her age, with an IQ of only 70. It was said that Frankie played with dolls until the time she was 16 years old. After Star’s birth, Frankie said that her little girl was everything to her, but soon she began to struggle with taking care of Star. Frankie would also go out drinking at night more and more, leaving Star with friends.

Then in November of 2019, Star’s parents, Frankie and Jordan, broke up, and Frankie became even more neglectful towards Star. Only a month later, in December, Frankie met a woman named Savannah Brockhill at the Sun Pub in Bradford, where Savannah worked door security. Frankie and Savannah soon began an on-and-off romantic relationship, but it was a volatile one that was full of arguments and domestic violence.

This new woman in Frankie’s life, Savannah, was 8 years older than her—26 at the time they met. Savannah had left school at only 10 years old, and for most of her life, she had hidden her bisexuality from her family. Savannah was also an amateur boxer, and she had hoped to compete in the Olympics; however, she had gotten injured and was unable to continue her boxing career. She now worked as a security guard as well as at a recycling plant.

Not long into their relationship, Frankie’s family noticed that she was losing further interest in her daughter, Star, and becoming more and more obsessed with Savannah, spending hours and hours on the phone with her. Since Frankie was not paying much attention to her daughter and had other things going on in her personal life, at this point, she was more than happy to let her friend Holly babysit her daughter when Holly volunteered.

Holly would be the first person to raise concerns about how Star was being treated at home. When the couple dropped off Star with Holly one day in January of 2020, before they even said hi to Holly, they told her that the bruises on Star had come from the little girl just falling down. Holly thought this was odd because they didn’t even say hi to her—why were they so defensive over Star’s bruises when she hadn’t even asked? On January 23rd, 2020, after Holly had seen the bruises on Star, she called Social Services. Police and Social Services both went out to the residence; however, no concerns were raised, and the case was dropped.

Now, both Frankie and Savannah were very possessive of one another, and they easily got jealous. Only a few months into the relationship, Savannah began suspecting that Frankie was cheating on her. Thinking this, she decided to send a message to one of Frankie’s sisters saying, “I’m broken. I’ll stab someone tonight, I swear. I don’t care about the kids in the house. I will rage, fuck it. They’re going to need the police in the house to take me away.” Probably not the best thing to text your significant other’s family.

Around the same time, Savannah posted a video on her social media calling herself the “number one psycho” and telling people that they need to stop messaging her girlfriend, Frankie: “Guys and girls need to remember the fact that Frankie is with me. She keeps getting a lot of message requests and friend requests. She’s not going to accept, especially tramps like yous. And if you want to keep your kneecaps, I suggest you stop sending her them. She’s with the number one psycho.”

Since Frankie was clearly way too wrapped up in her own life and personal problems and was being a neglectful mother toward Star, Star went to live with her great-grandparents for a while, David Fawcett and Anita Smith. She went to live there in February of 2020, and these would be some of the happiest months of the little girl’s life. When Anita had originally picked up Star from her mother, she said that the little girl looked depressed and had lost weight. Frankie would go visit her daughter a few times while she was under David and Anita’s care, and during that time, Star had gained weight and was much happier.

Unfortunately, the little girl would only end up staying with her great-grandparents for around 11 weeks. In April, Frankie would go over and pick up her daughter, saying that she was only going to keep her for about an hour and then she would bring her back. But later that day, Frankie texted Anita again saying that she was actually going to keep Star overnight, and unfortunately, she never ended up returning her daughter back to Anita and David’s house.

While Star was in her great-grandparents’ care, they had become suspicious that Star was being abused at home. They had also become suspicious that Frankie was in an abusive relationship, as they had seen bruises and a black eye on Frankie. The black eye and bruises had occurred in mid-March 2020 when Savannah hit Frankie while they were at the Sun Pub. She would say that it was accidental, but Frankie’s mother, Yvonne, who was also there, said that Savannah had punched her daughter in the face. The day after that occurred, Savannah ended up texting her boxing sparring partner and telling her that she had tried to kill herself and Frankie by driving over a cliff after they had left the pub the night before, but she ended up just hitting Frankie instead. She also told her sparring partner that she was out of control and needed help.

Anita was growing more and more concerned about her great-granddaughter, Star, and in May of 2020, she again called the authorities to report her concerns. She told them at this time that if they didn’t do something soon, Star was going to end up dead. Anita had recently heard reports that Savannah had been slam-choking Star—grabbing her by the throat and then slamming her down on the floor. When Anita confronted Savannah about this, Savannah said that she was just trying to “toughen Star up”—she’s a baby!

When Anita made her complaint to Social Services this time, since it had not been the first time she made a complaint, she said, “Look, we don’t want another Baby P on our hands, do we?” The lady from Social Services on the phone said, “How do you mean?” And this shocked Anita. She replied back, “Well, Baby P died from abuse, and I’m calling to make a complaint about abuse.”

So now Frankie’s sister also made a complaint to Social Services, as she was worried about her niece’s well-being. She showed social workers an email with images of Star’s bruised face and text messages from another one of her sisters saying that she had seen Frankie slap her daughter across the face for playing with a shoe. But nothing ever came of this, and Frankie’s sister also reported this to the police, who never got back to her.

When Social Services went to speak with Frankie and Savannah about the concerns that had been recently reported, Frankie and Savannah said that the only reason Frankie’s family was saying this was because they were being malicious, as they were not a fan of their same-sex relationship. Apparently, this answer was good enough for the social worker, because the case was then closed. As soon as the case was closed, Frankie went on to block all of her family’s phone numbers who had reported her. They were also no longer allowed to see Star. So, Star no longer had any contact with the people who were trying to protect her.

Since it seemed that Social Services was not taking Anita and David’s complaints seriously, David was desperate for somebody to know what was going on with his granddaughter, so he posted pictures on social media. One picture was of Star without bruises, and the other was a picture of Star with bruises. Frankie was fuming about this post, and she blocked David on social media. She then went on to make her own post slamming the worried grandfather. She wrote: “When you’re done being pathetic and childish with edited photos of our child, David Fawcett, get a grip. She’s happy and healthy. Since the social workers never worked and they agreed my baby is happy, healthy, and loved, now try whatever else you feel you need to grow up. You will never have my child.” Frankie later lashed out in another Facebook post, saying that it was her business as Star’s mom as to who her daughter would see and not see.

Even though Frankie had cut Star’s aunt and great-grandparents out of her life, some relatives were still allowed to see the little girl. They would also begin noticing bruises on Star’s face and body, along with the fact that she had gone from a happy child to a withdrawn and fearful one. In mid-2020, during the COVID lockdown, Frankie and Savannah decided to get a new flat together and start living with one another.

Shortly after the couple moved in together, Star’s dad, Jordan, decided to also make a complaint with Social Services. He had noticed that his daughter was clearly being mistreated while she was in her mother’s care. His concerns had come from a video that he had seen of Star with bruises all over her face. This complaint to Social Services resulted in a police visit and then Star being checked over at the hospital. However, at the hospital, it was deemed that her injuries were just accidental, because Frankie told them that Star had just fallen into a coffee table.

Now that Savannah was living with Star and Frankie, the treatment of the little girl got even worse. They were now depriving Star of food as well as sleep, and they would often make her stand in the corner for as much as 30 minutes at a time for the most minor transgressions—transgressions that a child her age probably didn’t even understand.

Yet another complaint was made to Social Services in the same month that Jordan had called in his complaint. A friend of Frankie and Savannah had seen a video of Star that Savannah had sent to them. The video shows an exhausted Star wobbling in her high chair before she falls off headfirst. You can hear Frankie and Savannah in the background laughing at her. Thinking this was very funny for whatever reason, they decided to edit the video, add music and a caption, and then send it out to a bunch of friends.

Then the next month, in July, Star would spend a night at work in Doncaster with Savannah, and the abuse was turned up a notch. A huge bruise appeared on Star’s cheek, followed by a Google search on how to get rid of it as fast as possible. That was then followed by a secretly recorded phone call with Frankie, in which she sounds angry with Savannah because Savannah was trying to convince her that she needed to keep Star away for one more day, most likely trying to cover up the bruises. But Savannah and Star ended up returning back to the flat, and Savannah just gave Frankie some sort of excuse for the bruises, and Frankie believed it. Again at the end of August, Star was seen with a giant, handprint-sized bruise on her face, and Savannah said that it was just because the little girl had fallen down the stairs. Again, Frankie believed her.

On September 2nd, another complaint was made to Social Services by David Fawcett, Star’s great-grandfather, and police were sent out to the house; however, they were unable to contact anybody, so they left. Then, during an unannounced visit two days later on September 4th, when Frankie was there, she just brushed off the authorities’ concerns about the bruises all over her daughter.

Nine days later, on September 13th, CCTV footage showed Savannah striking Star 21 times while she was at work with her. The footage was from a camera in Doncaster, where Savannah was working at the recycling plant. Both Savannah and Star were in the car, Star strapped in her car seat. In this CCTV footage, you can see Savannah delivering blows to Star’s little body over and over again for a few hours, one time hitting her so hard that she fell out of the car. Just days after this incident, Social Services closed the case, and 16-month-old Star would end up dying only a week after that, on September 22nd, 2020.

It was just before 3:00 p.m. on September 22nd that Savannah arrived home to their flat to discover that Star had torn up a ticket from Frankie’s favorite band. So at 3:03 p.m., Savannah’s internet history showed on her phone that she was looking for Rubettes tickets. Then at 3:34 p.m., the internet search history on Frankie’s phone showed “how to bring a baby out of shock” and “shock in babies.” Eleven minutes later, a call to 999 would be made by Savannah:

Savannah: “Is the patient breathing? Yeah, she’s breathing. Is she conscious? Uh, yeah… um, yeah… a bit of both, really. Basically, it’s me… I’m her daughter’s… It’s my little girl as well, I brought her up. And we’ve got all three children here playing, and I was in the kitchen making a coffee, and they had been in the living room, and I heard a bang. So I came out, and the little lad stood there, and the little girl’s on the floor, and um… she was crying, and then she stopped crying, and then she was sick. And now she’s just a little bit floppy, to be honest with you.”

Operator: “And do you know what the bang was?”

Savannah: “No, I don’t know… I don’t know if she’s fallen off of the sofa, or I don’t know… Just the three of them playing. With me, he just said… And when I walked in, she was laid on the floor twitching.”

Operator: “So you heard a bang, the patient was on the floor?”

Savannah: “I’ve heard a bang, yeah. I came in and the little lad was saying ‘Star,’ which is the little girl, yeah. So I’ve obviously… I shouted the mom to sit up, so I sat her up, and I started to rub her back ’cause she was like breathing, but like struggling. Yeah, so I was rubbing her back and she started to be sick, so I laid her on the floor in like a CPR position, started to rub her back, and um… she started to lose breath, so I performed CPR on her.”

Operator: “So you’ve done CPR on her?”

Savannah: “Yeah, I’ve done CPR. I’ve got her in the recovery position now.”

Paramedics arrived at the flat at 4:04 p.m. and found Star’s lifeless body wearing only a diaper. She was in cardiac arrest, and when paramedics attempted to give her CPR, Star vomited up brown material. She was then airlifted to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly before 5:00 p.m. on September 22nd.

At the hospital, after Star had been confirmed dead, Frankie only kissed her little girl on the forehead. An onlooking nurse thought this was awfully odd, because most of the time parents would pick up their child and hold them after they had passed away. Savannah arrived at the hospital shortly after, and upon seeing Star, she dropped to her knees. When somebody helped Savannah back up to her feet, she suddenly became aggressive, puffed out her chest, her nostrils flared, and she began screaming, “Have I caused her death by giving her CPR? I’ll give her my blood, I’ll give her my heart, please tell me I haven’t done it!” Anything not to go to jail, clearly.

The same nurse who had observed all this happening also said that Frankie, Savannah, and Frankie’s mother, Yvonne, were talking an awful lot about Star’s funeral. She said it’s normal to plan a funeral after someone dies, obviously; however, they were talking about it a lot considering Star had just passed away. Towards the end of this nurse’s shift, she said that she walked into a room where Frankie and Savannah were, and Frankie was sitting on Savannah’s lap—the two of them looked like nothing was wrong.

It was soon revealed that Star had died from blood loss after her inferior vena cava, the largest vein in her body, was torn. She also had other injuries that had occurred in the weeks prior to her death: Star had suffered a severe skull fracture, a brain injury, two fractures to her tibia caused by forceful twisting, and a fracture to her ribs. Medics said that her injuries were usually only seen in car crash victims and had been caused by either punches, kicks, or stomps. In total, Star had 15 different injuries to her head and 10 bruises on her legs, ankles, feet, and toes. Her injuries were so catastrophic that there was no way she could have been saved, and it was very clear that it was non-accidental.

Both Frankie and Savannah were arrested. Savannah—surprise, surprise—when interviewed by police, tried to blame Star’s injuries on a 2-year-old. However, according to doctors, the degree of force inflicted on Star was so great, it was quite impossible for a doctor to envision it being inflicted by a child.

When Frankie spoke with the police, she said that she would never lay a finger on Star. She said that she could never tell her daughter off and she had never slapped her. Frankie also said that Savannah had been like a parent to Star, but Frankie also admitted that she herself had been hit by Savannah on a number of occasions. Frankie had been hit with both a hairbrush as well as a shoe.

While awaiting trial, a psychologist examined Frankie and said that she was in the bottom 2% for intelligence. The psychologist also said she was abnormally compliant and abnormally prone to going along with what an authority figure was telling her to do.

As for “psycho Savannah,” as she calls herself, she nearly died just a few days before her trial. She had suffered three seizures and two cardiac arrests after collapsing in prison. She had been unconscious for an hour and 20 minutes and was given CPR before being intubated by doctors. Star’s family, of course, says they wish that they had just let her die.

During a lengthy 7-week trial in October of 2021, jurors saw harrowing video of Star’s short life. In one video, she looks badly bruised with a swollen cheek and a mark across her forehead. Another video clip, which was taken by CCTV, showed Frankie dragging Star through Bradford like a puppet, Star crying the entire time as she tried to walk—Star actually had a broken shin. Then there was a video from the next day that showed Frankie and Savannah forcing Star to walk upstairs as Star cried because, again, she had a broken bone in her leg.

In the days before Star’s death, Savannah had made a number of haunting Google searches as well, asking, “How long can a body go without sleep?” She also Googled, “How long can you sit in the cold?” and “What takes bruising and swelling away?” She also Googled things such as, “Can you die from getting winded?”, “Sick after head trauma”, “Signs of an abused baby”, and “How to get bruising to go away again.”

And of course, there were also incriminating text messages between the couple. In some of them, Frankie called her daughter “it” as well as a “little cunt.” In other sickening text messages between the couple, they spoke about what they did to Star when she misbehaved: Savannah would swing the toddler by her legs as punishment, and Frankie would sometimes bite her little girl’s fingers to punish her. There was also another text message in which Savannah tells Frankie to quote, “rip her up.” There were also multiple pictures of the poor little girl standing in the corner found on both of their phones.

Regardless of all of this, Frankie told the jury that she did not understand at the time that what she was doing amounted to child abuse. Even with a low IQ, I’m not buying that. “I loved my Star,” she said. She would end up taking some responsibility partway through the trial, saying that she was guilty of neglecting Star on at least eight separate occasions leading up to her death.

Also during the trial, Savannah insisted that she also loved Star and she was just trying to get her into a routine. She said, “Star was my little girl, I brought her up.” Savannah tried to convince the jury that the video and CCTV footage they had seen of her hitting Star was lying, and that she’d only slapped Star once on the cheek, nothing more. Unbelievably, in a Facebook post that would come out, Frankie, just weeks before Star’s death, said that she had wanted another baby.

Frankie’s sister was one person who testified during the trial, and she said that she will never speak to her sister again. She told the court that she would scream at Frankie that she did not have to be with Savannah and that she could leave and they could file a restraining order, but Frankie apparently never felt that it was necessary. The last time Frankie’s sister had seen her niece was in August of 2020, about a month before she was murdered. She said at the time Star looked tired and sad, and she had also lost weight and no longer looked like a healthy little girl. It was discovered that on the day that Star was murdered, Social Services was actually supposed to pay a visit to the house to check on her.

At the end of the long trial, Frankie Smith would be cleared of murder, but she was convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child. She was sentenced to just 8 years in jail. Savannah Brockhill was found guilty of murdering Star, and she was sentenced to life with a minimum of 25 years, and she of course says she plans on appealing that sentence. Then in March of 2022, Frankie’s sentence would end up getting extended by another four years, though once she gets released, her family has said that they’re going to happily welcome her home—most of them at least, clearly not her sister.

Sadly, in June of 2021, on Frankie’s birthday, her 50-year-old father, Andrew Smith, took his own life when he overdosed on pills. He had been struggling to come to terms with what his daughter Frankie had done to his granddaughter. Prior to his death, Andrew had written a card to Frankie in prison saying, “You look after yourself and I’ll look after the baby.”

Star’s family was only able to hold a small funeral for her due to COVID restrictions at the time. They did, however, have a balloon release as well, where more people were able to attend. A little over a year after Star’s murder, in December of 2021, her family along with dozens of friends and neighbors gathered at Roberts Park in Saltaire. They lit candles and remembered 16-month-old Star Hobson. Candles spelling out Star’s name were lit alongside other lights, as well as photos of Star and messages to her.

Well, thank you for listening to all of Star’s story today. It astounds me that Frankie, who said that she adored her daughter and that her daughter was everything to her, let this woman abuse her over and over again. Not only that, she also actively participated in the abuse towards Star, and I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that most of Frankie’s family is happy to welcome her home in a few years.