Dad jailed for eight years for squeezing his baby

The man was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court

A Bradford dad has been jailed for eight years after he squeezed and shook his newborn baby, causing multiple fractured ribs and bleeding on the brain.

The defendant, who is not being named to protect the identity of the child, made a 999 call to the emergency services back in early 2022 reporting that the infant was rigid and had breathing difficulties.

Prosecutor Michael Smith told Bradford Crown Court on Friday that immediate assistance was sent to the house and paramedics had concerns about bruising on the child's body.

When the baby was examined at hospital doctors found 11 areas of physical injury consistent with "very forceful gripping".

A CT scan also revealed "bruising and bleeding on the brain" with a very significant amount of blood on the left side of the brain.

Mr Smith said that injury had clearly been caused by a violent shaking incident.

A doctor concluded that the child had been subject to "multiple episodes of abuse trauma" and had suffered at least 17 rib fractures on both sides of the chest.

The child had also suffered fractures to both collarbones.

The court heard that during subsequent court proceedings the defendant admitted causing the injuries on two separate occasions.

'Awfully wrong'

Mr Smith said the first incident had involved "forceful squeezing" and the second involved shaking the baby.

The defendant, who is in his 30s, pleaded guilty last month to two charges of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent and his barrister Rebecca Randall said he had come to court knowing that he faced a lengthy prison sentence.

She said the defendant was genuinely remorseful for his actions and accepted that he would have to live with the repercussions for the rest of his life.

The court heard that the child had now been assessed as meeting all its developmental targets so far and was living with its mother.

Miss Randall said that her client was operating under an enormous amount of stress at the time.

"He recognises that what he did was awfully wrong," she added.

Judge Colin Burn said the brain injuries had been very severe and the defendant had used such force that the extremely flexible bones of a newborn child had been fractured.

He said the baby had been in a "very critical" condition when the ambulance was called and the injuries were grave.

The judge said the defendant's actions on the two occasions were the actions of someone suffering a complete loss of control.

He said the small baby was obviously highly vulnerable and the offence had involved a father in a position of trust committing a violent assault on his newborn child.

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