THE family of a baby who died while in the care of babysitters have vowed to launch a private prosecution if court bosses fail to bring her killer to justice.

A year on from Courtney-Ann Shailes' death great aunt Jackie Davies said she would not give up the fight to find who was responsible for injuries said to have been consistent with being her battered against a wall.

Lynn Jeffrey, 37, who was looking after Courtney at her home in Railway Street, Nelson, when she died, was cleared of murdering the 11-month old in June at Preston Crown Court.

She told the court that her partner at the time, Andrew Elliott, had been responsible for the killing, but no charges have been brought against him.

Both he and Jeffrey had told police at first that he was out of the house when the baby died.

Mrs Davies, who spent Saturday handing out leaflets in Nelson appealing for more information about the night of the child's death, on August 23 last year, said the next step for the family was to petition the Crown Prosecution Service.

The family wants action to be taken on the lesser charge of manslaughter, and is offering a £1,000 reward for anyone who can offer information leading to a conviction.

And if the prosecutors decide against pursuing the case, Mrs Davies said the family would look at other methods, including a private, civil prosecution.

She said: "If the police aren't going to do anything then it's down to us and we will never give up the fight.

"Somebody killed Courtney and that someone has to be brought to justice one way or another. It just doesn't seem to make sense that there is nothing else they can do.

"We will be going to see solicitors in the next few days to find out what else we can do and I hope the CPS will listen to us.

"We have got a huge amount of public support and when we get the petition started there will be people on it from all over the world.

"People just can't believe what happened to little Courtney and that whoever did it is just getting away with it. Her mum Samantha is still in bits and she won't be able to get herself together again until we have seen some proper justice.

"This is an unusual situation for anybody and we are still finding out what all the options are, but if it comes to taking individuals to court ourselves, that's what we will do.

"Even if all we can do is officially is have the person responsible named as her killer, then that will at least put some sort of end to this.

"It's Samantha who's suffering and who will continue to suffer until the killer is brought to justice. We are not going to let her suffer forever."

Mrs Davies thanked everyone for their support, including Computer Care, Great Harwood, which supplied campaign leaflets and T-shirts free to the family.