Little Ayesha Ali suffered more than 40 injuries to her body when she died after months of torture and abuse which included being terrorised in the night by scary masks worn by the very people who should have protected her.

Weighing three and a half stone and 4ft 7in (1.4m), Ayesha was not in a position to resist anything that was done to her by her mother, Polly Chowdhury, and her lesbian lover, Kiki Muddar.

The eight-year-old was found dead in her bedroom wearing just a pair of pink pants, having suffered a bite mark - possibly inflicted by her mother - and carpet burns as well as numerous bruises and abrasions.

The actual cause of death was a head injury, although neither Chowdhury nor Muddar would say how it had happened.

Ayesha was described as a "little chatterbox" who always had something to say - until horror movie fan Muddar's jealousy silenced her forever.

Muddar constantly urged Chowdhury to punish Ayesha for what she saw as her bad behaviour, claiming it was hurting her and the fictional Jimmy.

Examples of some 41,000 texts were read out in court to show how Muddar bombarded her lover with negative ideas of the little girl, saying: "Your daughter is evil, you never disciplined her today", "Your daughter will pay", and "You have no right to ever love or like your evil daughter".

In a recorded phone conversation with a friend the month before the killing, Muddar described Ayesha as a "pure evil" and a "witch" and threatened to drown her in the bath.

The court was shown a list of good and bad things Ayesha was supposed to have done, partly written in her own childlike handwriting.

Among her chores, she was required to scrub the toilet - something she was ordered to do twice on the day of her death.

Punishments meted out by both women could be severe - Chowdhury admitted smacking her and hitting her with a wooden spoon and Muddar had been giving her a cold bath for wetting herself the night she died.

The jury was also told of a bizarre way the women found of terrorising Ayesha in the night - taking it in turns to wear a scary mask in the little girl's bedroom.

A neighbour reported hearing her screaming, crying and pleading with her mother in the night: "Amah, I don't want to be bad, Amah, Amah I don't want to be bad."

Even after the killing, Muddar showed no pity for the blameless child in her comments to paramedics sent after she rang 999 to report that Chowdhury had tried to kill herself and that Ayesha was dead.

Asked if she was at all concerned for Ayesha, the 43-year-old said: "She never makes her bed and she is a problem child."

When the paramedic remarks that it is sad that she is dead, Muddar retorts: "She was a naughty child and Mum thought she was possessed by the Devil."

Although she did not give evidence in her trial, the court heard a revealing interview between Muddar and psychiatrist Dr Philip Joseph in which she blamed Chowdhury for the abuse.

She told him: "There were good days, bad days and weird days. On good days there was no shouting between Polly and Ayesha. On bad days there was constant shouting between them and she was told to do chores.

"Ayesha would refuse, saying it was a punishment and not her job. Polly would ask me to explain it was not a punishment.

"I saw Polly hit Ayesha once or twice and Polly bruised her hand after hitting her. Once she hit her with a wooden spoon. I never hit Ayesha with my hand and I never hit Ayesha with a spoon.

"On weird days Ayesha would say she would not listen to Polly because someone had told her not to. I thought she was joking.

"I was seeing shadows and the sitting room door would open and slam shut. I thought the house was possessed."