Father accused of murder lied about cannabis use

Everleigh was admitted to hospital aged five weeks and died when she was 14 months old

A father accused of killing his baby daughter has admitted lying to police about his cannabis use the night before causing her "catastrophic" injuries, a court heard.

Everleigh Stroud died aged one after "excessive and severe" shaking when she was just five weeks old led to brain and bone injuries.

Everleigh, who was born on 13 March 2021, spent more than a year in a vegetative state before she died at 14 months on 27 May 2022.

Thomas Holford, 24 and from Ramsgate, has denied murder but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in his trial at Canterbury Crown Court, claiming he cannot remember what happened.

Giving evidence on Thursday, he, said he had at least five joints before being left in charge of Everleigh on 20 April 2021.

On that day, he was smoking more than usual because the date was "420" which he agreed was a "big day for cannabis smokers", the court heard.

When police arrived at his address in Wallwood Road, Ramsgate, where Holford, then 20, lived with his then 16-year-old girlfriend and her parents, they discovered a cannabis grinder and joint butts next to a milk bottle in his bedroom.

He told police that he had not smoked cannabis since 10am the previous morning, which he has now accepted was a lie.

Police discovered several cannabis joints near the baby's bottle

Prosecting, Eloise Marshall KC asked: "When the police asked you what you'd smoked, you lied?"

"Yes," Holford replied.

Asked why, he added: "I'm trying to project an image of something that is better than reality."

He also suggested that he had done it to "protect" his girlfriend's family, who were aware of his smoking but believed it was for medicinal purposes, the court heard.

Jurors were also shown text messages he had sent to a contact in a bid to buy more drugs because he had "the little one on my own tonight" and it was going to be "stressful".

The trial continues.