Man who killed baby daughter has sentence increased

Everleigh Stroud died aged 14 months on 27 May 2022, one year after the attack

A father who was jailed for murdering his baby daughter by shaking her so hard she suffered brain injuries has had his sentence increased at the Court of Appeal.

Thomas Holford, 25, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years at Canterbury Crown Court in July after being convicted of killing his daughter, Everleigh Stroud.

The baby girl was left alone in her father's care on the night of 20 April, 2021, when she was just five weeks old.

The court heard she was left with brain and bone injuries and atrophy to her eyes, causing her to go blind, after being shaken with "excessive and severe" force by Holford at her grandparents' home in Ramsgate.

Everleigh died aged 14 months on 27 May 2022 after spending more than a year in hospital.

The Solicitor General, Ellie Reeves, referred Holford's sentence to the Court of Appeal in September as "unduly lenient".

On Tuesday, barristers told a hearing that aggravating features in the case "significantly outweighed the available mitigation".

This included Holford being "heavily intoxicated with cannabis" during the attack.

Three senior judges agreed and increased the minimum term of Holford's sentence by two years.

Lord Justice Edis, sitting with Mr Justice Sheldon and Mr Justice Calver, said: "He was aware if he took substantial quantities of cannabis, his ability to control himself may suffer.

"He nevertheless deliberately did that, knowing that in the night to come, he was to be the sole carer for his five-week-old daughter."

Jocelyn Ledward KC, for the Solicitor General, said in written submissions that Holford had been a regular cannabis user.

On the night of the attack, Everleigh's mother was visiting friends and left her in Holford's care.

Thomas Holford has had his minimum sentence increased at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday

He said in text messages that he would find looking after Everleigh "stressful" and smoked cannabis.

Everleigh's mother then returned home and discovered her seriously injured, before calling the emergency services.

Holford appeared "not unduly concerned" and continued to download and play games on his phone while Everleigh was being cared for, Ms Ledward said.

Increasing Holford's minimum term, Lord Justice Edis said Everleigh was "as vulnerable as any human could be" and that Holford had injured her "grievously".

Additional reporting by PA.