Until today, when she seems almost normal, I think Frankie Smith is doing an excellent job of making herself look like a complete simpleton. People on other websites have speculated if she is learning disabled. She is definitely thick, but she is exaggerating it. In the transcripts of police interviews, FS spoke in much longer sentences, with more detail and a greater variety of words. Normal, basically. In court, she comes across as if she can barely string a sentence together. "I don't know" "Not at the time" "No." ad infinitum. She is not giving anything away at all. Her defense team have done a brilliant job if they have coached her to say as little as possible, and to just unceremoniously admit any examples of terrible motherhood that aren't tantamount to causing the death of a child.
For what it's worth though, I don't think that FS is outright sadistic and psychopathic like Savannah Brockhill. I think Frankie loved her baby somewhat, but is incredibly selfish and childish and has low empathy, plus completely lacking parenting ability. By "selfish" I mean it doesn't even occur to her to think about other people's feelings, including her baby. She put's herself first at all times, including when she puts SB first, because SB was what she wanted.
Her scaring her baby reminds me (unfortunately), of myself when I was a child and used to scare my beloved cat with the hoover because she was terrified of it, just for my own amusement. Despite having a phobia myself, despite loving my cat and not wanting to ever hurt her, my empathy was just not developed enough to realise that it was totally wrong and cruel of me.
SB I think is a true psychopath and specifically sought out a much younger (pretty sure Frankie was only 18 when they met) stupider, financially vulnerable girl to control. FS is much more attractive than flabby, plain SB. I can only imagine that SB has that psychopathic charisma/superficial charm going on. Because she doesn't seem to have much else going for her. Also I'm wondering if her aggression was attractive, in the same way that schoolgirls are often attracted to the hardest boys in their class. FS was immature enough to still be impressed by that sort of thing.
I wish we had full transcripts of SB's Anglo-Romani recorded phone calls, because different things are highlighted in different court updates. A lot seems to be missing. Some of the words used I believe would be familiar to many non-gypsies, and would be shocking if people saw the non-translated version, such as "muller" (to beat severely).
From SB's translated conversations, on this link:
LIVE: Star Hobson murder trial - Day 15
In the phone calls between Savannah and her sister, Savannah seems to be confessing to murdering Star, and is severely worried about what might be caught on any (as yet unknown) CCTV cameras that might be at the recycling plant, two weeks before Star died. In a later recorded phone call, she now knows there's CCTV, and she seems very specifically worried about the 13th September when she had Star at the recycling plant, because she mentions on the 25th of October she'd been in prison for 4 weeks, and it was 2 weeks before that. That takes us exactly to the 13th of September, when she was indeed recorded hitting Star 21 times. She said she did it inside and outside of the car. In an earlier call she seems to be alluding to attacking Star all over the recycling plant. I think there are many more attacks that weren't captured on CCTV.
SB also admits she's terrified as the police have her phone, and at the recycling plant she was googling what the beating could have done to Star. She really doesn't want to go to trial, for this reason, and would rather take a plea deal. She seems to be under the impression that plea deals work like they do in the US, rather than the minor sentence reductions that are given in this country for pleading guilty. SB's sister advises her to wait and see what evidence they've got before doing that.
SB is asking her sister to clean her car because the "spirit of the dead baby" is in the car. This I'm sure is a euphemism for blood. Because the sister soon did get Savannah's car valeted. Despite this, some of Star's blood was still found. Savannah said she "done something to the mouth/face that day at the park". She says "they will say she's beating up the little "dog" (code for Star I think), it's on camera".
The sister asks SB if the police know she worked at the recycling plant yet, to which SB says she had to tell them. SB's sister seems at one point to suggest of there is anyone SB could talk to at her place of work regarding the CCTV. She seems to be suggesting if there's a possibility of asking if there is someone who can get rid of any recordings for her. When SB is referring back to considering pleading guilty rather than going to trial for murder, the sister advises her to wait and see what they've got. From this and the car being valeted, I think SB's sister should be being charged with tampering with evidence/assisting an offender etc.
I really hope this is enough for SB to go down for murder. IMO FS is not guilty of murder, but of causing or allowing the death of a child.