Dad, 31, shook baby son to death then abandoned him in cot for mum to find
A dad who shook and squeezed his newborn baby to death has been jailed for life for his murder.
James Clark, 31, caused five-week-old Sean to suffer 71 rib fractures and a fatal bleed on his brain before abandoning him in a cot for his mum to find the next morning.
A post-mortem examination was carried out and revealed Sean had been assaulted on at least three occasions with injuries consistent with being shaken.
Jane Osborne QC, prosecuting, told the court: ‘He squeezed his son Sean tightly around the chest, causing fractures, and shook him forcefully to cause that bleed to the brain, which was the fatal incident.
‘That shaking incident would have led to rapid unconsciousness and death.
‘The evidence following that shaking incident – when it must have been clear Sean Clark was lifeless – the defendant put Sean Clark back in his cot and went to bed, knowing that he would wait until the morning until Sean was discovered.’
The trial heard Clark and his ex-partner Helen Jeremy lived separately at their respective parents’ homes but at weekends would stay together.
Ms Jeremy and Sean had gone to Clark’s home on January 11 2018 to stay for the weekend and on the morning of January 14 she discovered her son’s lifeless body.
Clark, from South Gloucestershire, denied murder but was convicted following a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
He was ordered to serve a minimum of 15 years in prison for killing his son.
Ms Jeremy, 27, of Russell Avenue, Kingswood, also stood trial but was acquitted of murder and causing or allowing his death.
Andrew Langdon QC, defending, said Clark suffered from autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and that had impaired his ability to understand the consequences of the fatal attack.
He said: ‘It may be a mistake to assume that he was wicked, devious, cunning, ruthless and cold hearted as one could be more confident with a man who suffered none of those impairments in his thinking.
‘It enumerates to some extent the extent to which one should aggravate the sentence for his failure to obtain assistance.’
Mr Justice Butcher highlighted that the crime has had a ‘profound effect’ on other members of Sean’s family and in particular his mum, who has had to bear not only the loss of her son but was also faced with charges that she herself had killed him
Imposing a life sentence, he said: ‘Sean had died from a brain injury caused by being very roughly handled or shaken, exacerbated by injuries to his rib cage caused by squeezing.
‘It was you who had inflicted the injuries upon him which caused his death. What exactly happened or why we do not know because you have not said.
‘I am sure that it was the same person who was responsible for those prior incidents as was responsible for the fatal injuries, and those by its verdict the jury has found that you inflicted.’
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