Parents 'shook four-month-old Jayden Wray to death'

A four-month-old boy died after being shaken by his parents, a court has heard.

Jayden Wray died three days after being admitted to hospital in July 2009 suffering head injuries and multiple fractures, the Old Bailey was told.

The jury heard he had suffered severe brain damage and his life-support was turned off.

His father Rohan Wray, 22, and mother Chana Al-Alas, 18, of Islington, north London, deny a charge of murder.

They also deny a count of causing or allowing his death.

'Incompatible with life'

Sally Howes QC, prosecuting, said: "It is the Crown's case that those responsible for his death are his parents.

"Clinical investigation into the cause of his collapse revealed a number of injuries - some recent and others pre-dating his admission to hospital by quite some time.

"These injuries suggested to doctors treating him that Jayden had sustained them as a result of either a shaking or shaking/impact assault."

Jayden had been born a normal baby when his mother was aged 16 and his father 19, the court heard.

On 22 July 2009, Jayden was admitted as an emergency to University College Hospital and placed on life support.

Within hours, his condition deteriorated and he was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

Despite efforts to save his life, he was considered so severely brain damaged that his condition was "incompatible with life", Miss Howes said.

Suffered from rickets

The couple denied that Jayden had been injured in any way to their knowledge, but doctors found fractures all over his body, including all four limbs, his skull, chest and abdomen.

Miss Howes told the court: "Rohan Wray asked the consultant paediatric intensivist Dr Shruti Agrawal how big the skull fracture was and if fractures could be dated."

The court heard Jayden suffered from rickets, a disease which causes bones to be weaker, and so he would be at "greater risk of bone fracturing than any normal, well-nourished child".

But the jury was told that although some of the fractures could be down to the illness others, such as the skull fracture, were due to non-accidental injury and were up to 14 days old.

The trial continues.