Tragedy as boy, 9, left blind & brain damaged by evil dad’s abuse dies in hospital – with new police probe launched
A NINE-year-old left blind and brain damaged after his evil dad’s violent abuse has died in hospital with cops launching an urgent probe.
Bradley Nelson was left severely disabled and unable to walk, talk or feed himself after being attacked by his dad Darren Spreadbury at their home in Whitby, North Yorkshire, in April 2016 – when he was seven months old.
The horrific abuse Bradley suffered was so violent that he went blind, and he was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
In 2018, Spreadbury was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment after scans revealed Bradley’s brain injuries had been caused by shaken baby syndrome – the name given to serious brain injuries resulting from forceful shaking of an infant or toddler.
Nine years later, North Yorkshire Police has opened a new investigation after Bradley sadly passed away at Scarborough General Hospital on October 22.
Bradley’s mother Sharon Boocock, a 44-year-old bartender who was at his bedside when he passed, said he was “always smiling and happy” despite his medical woes.
A fundraiser launched on GoFundMe by Sharon’s friends to help cover Bradley’s funeral costs has already raised more than £2,700 – where donors have described him as the “bravest little boy”.
Sharon, who lives with her three other children, said: “I got to sit with him for 10 minutes and then he had another massive cardiac arrest and they just couldn’t get him back.
“Bradley was blind because he shook him that hard, he snapped his optic nerve and he had a can of Coke’s worth of blood between his brain and his skull.”
The traumatic events unfolded on April 6, 2016, when Sharon was woken by her ex-partner Darren who informed her that Bradley had stopped breathing.
She rushed downstairs and started performing CPR before an ambulance arrived and Bradley was taken to A&E at Scarborough General Hospital.
The police were called after a CT scan revealed Bradley had suffered a brain injury doctors feared was caused by physical abuse.
Sharon continued: “They asked me what happened and I said: ‘I’ve just been woken up and he’s not breathing, I don’t know, I’m not a doctor’.
“When they said it was an unexplained, non-accidental head injury, I was like ‘what are you on about?’
“It actually took me a long time to believe that they were right.”
A few weeks later, Bradley’s father, Darren was charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
To this day, Sharon does not know what happened, but medical results show Bradley had 300ml of blood between his brain and skull and was shaken so hard that his optic nerve snapped – leaving him blind.
After the attack, Bradley, who was born “fit and well”, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
Because of the brain damage it was “unsafe” for Bradley to swallow, so in April 2021, age five, he underwent PEG surgery to insert a feeding tube into his stomach.
Tragically, his bowels were damaged during the operation, and Bradley was rushed back to hospital a week later.
After doctors performed surgery to repair his bowels, Bradley sneezed causing his wound to reopen.
Sharon explained: “Bradley did a sneeze and the whole wound, from the bottom of his rib cage to the top of his groin literally exploded, leaving all his middles on the bed.”
“We ended up living with his bowels outside his tummy in a bag for the next year.”
Over the following months, Bradley repeatedly developed sepsis and when the infection returned aggressively in October 2021, Sharon was told “he’s not going to survive this one”.
‘MIRACLE’ CHILD
Doctors feared Bradley was on the brink of having a cardiac arrest but after three tense days, he pulled through.
“We were just waiting for it to happen and by some absolute miracle it didn’t,” she said.
“They call him a miracle on ward 42 now, because they had never seen anyone recover from those (heart rate and oxygen level) numbers.”
Despite his miraculous recovery, Bradley remained in a very weak state and was at risk of succumbing to another bout of sepsis.
Sharon was informed that they could attempt a high-risk operation with a 50-50 survival chance, otherwise, he would likely never leave the hospital.
She agreed and after enduring 12 hours on the operating table, 10 days in an induced coma, and eight weeks of recovery, Bradley was finally discharged in July 2023.
But last month, Bradley was sent home from school after complaining about feeling sleepy and not being himself.
Sharon took him to the children’s Rainbow Ward at Scarborough General Hospital where doctors suggested Bradley had probably caught a virus.
Sharon returned home around tea time to care for her other children, leaving Bradley in hospital with her mother Lynda.
At around 10.30pm, she received a phone call from doctors to say Bradley was not “doing well” and immediately returned to the hospital.
‘INSTANTLY BLUE’
She arrived at the hospital and Sharon was getting Bradley ready for bed around midnight, when he suddenly “decked it like a sack of spuds” and fell unconscious.
“He went instantly blue and stopped breathing – I shouted for somebody,” Sharon shared.
Sharon and her partner Jonny Nelson were informed that Bradley had experienced a seizure before he was put on a ventilator to aid his breathing.
“They left us in a big open room and he was in front of us,” she recounted.
“I saw the doctor doing really rapid chest compressions and was like, ‘What’s going on?’.
“No-one would answer me.”
After 20 minutes of chest compressions, Bradley’s heartbeat returned but he soon suffered another “massive” cardiac arrest and tragically passed away.
“They just couldn’t get him back,” Sharon said.
Last week, police informed Sharon they were investigating the cause of his death.
A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson stated: “We have been made aware of the death of a nine year old boy from the Whitby area, who sadly passed away in hospital on October 22.”
“The child had complex medical needs and an investigation into the cause of his death is currently under way, reflecting due process in such circumstances.”