Chichester father jailed for killing baby son

Leo Banks died more than two years after being shaken at four weeks old

A man has been jailed for causing the death of his baby son by forcefully shaking him after being left tired and frustrated when he would not stop crying.

Leo Banks suffered a catastrophic brain injury at the hands of Matthew Banks and died more than two years later.

Banks, 34, shook four-week-old Leo "vigorously" while he was looking after him one night in December 2017.

Judge Mrs Justice Cutts described the case as "tragic".

Banks, of Gilbert Road, Chichester, West Sussex, pleaded guilty to manslaughter at Winchester Crown Court in August.

Jennifer Knight KC, prosecuting, said Banks "forcefully" shook Leo when he was attempting to wind him while feeding him.

She said in the morning Leo's mother, Hannah Hawdon, found her son seriously ill.

'Traumatic episode'

Tests and a MRI scan found he had suffered a "large volume subdural haemorrhage and a brain laceration".

Ms Knight said: "The constellation of injuries could only be explained by a traumatic episode at the time of his collapse."

Leo was stabilised and released from hospital, and continued to receive treatment for the head injury and related serious illness until his death in February 2020.

Ms Knight said weeks after the incident, Banks admitted to Ms Hawdon he had shaken Leo, before making further admissions to other relatives and a social worker.

He said "it was an accident and he did it out of frustration and tiredness", Ms Knight added.

She said Banks said "he may have shaken Leo while winding him, he was crying so much that he wasn't breathing properly, and he had shaken him to shock him into breathing".

'Betrayed'

In a victim impact statement, Ms Hawdon said until Banks admitted causing the injury she lived under the suspicion she had harmed Leo which made her "feel sick to the stomach".

Rebecca Upton, defending Banks, said he was remorseful and wished to tell his ex-partner and family "he has betrayed them and he will never forgive himself".

Sentencing Banks to three years, eight months in jail, Mrs Justice Cutts said: "This case is aggravated by the vulnerability of Leo by reason of his young age."

Det Con Owen Watkins, of Sussex Police, said: "Matthew Banks was one of the people trusted to look after and care for Leo, but instead his actions caused injuries that Leo was sadly unable to recover from."

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