Gosport child death: Mother and partner found guilty

Stanley Davis, pictured about a week before he was taken to hospital, died in March 2017

A couple have been found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a three-week-old baby boy.

Stanley Davis died in hospital in March 2017 from a broken skull after previously sustaining 41 fractures.

His mother Roxanne Davis, 30, and her then partner, Sam Davies, 24, both from Gosport, Hampshire, had denied the charge.

They were remanded in custody to be sentenced at Winchester Crown Court on 7 December.

Ms Davis cried after the verdict was delivered and shouted "no... he killed my baby... he murdered my little baby" as she was led from the dock.

Roxanne Davis and Sam Davies will be sentenced in December

Stanley suffered broken ribs and limbs on three separate occasions before the fatal head injury was inflicted on or about 20 March, the court heard.

Prosecutors said one of the pair killed Stanley and the other "allowed it to happen", but they could not say who played which role.

Both tested positive for cocaine and cannabis after their arrests on 21 March.

The court heard the couple had frequent arguments which sometimes turned violent in the days following Stanley's birth.

Police were called to their flat on 11 March after a neighbour heard screaming and "sounds as if someone was falling down the stairs".

On 16 March, a health visitor noticed a bruise on Stanley's head, which a hospital consultant later mistakenly diagnosed as a birthmark.

Police said Stanley suffered an 8cm (3in) skull fracture

The baby was taken from the flat in Garland Court on 21 March and died in hospital seven days later.

Mr Davies, of Mayfield Road, Southampton, was not the baby's father, but lived with Ms Davis, of Lee Road, Gosport, at the time.

After the verdicts were delivered, police said the baby's injuries had been "truly shocking".

Det Ch Insp Fiona Bitters said: "Stanley was found to have sustained 32 fractures to his ribs, nine fractures to the bones in his arms and legs, and an 8cm (3in) skull fracture.

"No child should have to suffer in the way that he did."

An independent review of how professionals worked together to safeguard Stanley has been commissioned by Hampshire Safeguarding Children Board.

The court heard the baby may have been fatally injured in Mr Davies' flat in Gosport