Boy dies nine years after dad left him unable to walk or talk
A boy who was attacked by his own father when he was a baby has died nine years later.
Bradley Nelson was never able to walk, talk or feed himself after being shaken severely by Darren Spreadbury at their home in Whitby, North Yorkshire, when he was just seven months old.
His mum, Sharon Boocock, who was at his side when he died at Scarborough General Hospital said he was ‘always smiling’, even in the days leading up to his death.
She 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.
‘He was unfortunately the victim of shaken baby syndrome at the hands of his own father.
‘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.’
More than £2,700 has been raised on GoFundMe by a friend of Sharon’s for Bradley’s funeral costs.
Spreadbury told Sharon in April 2016 that Bradley had stopped breathing and she performed CPR on him.
A CT scan later revealed that he had suffered a brain injury caused by physical abuse. He was shaken so hard that his optic nerve snapped, leaving him blind. He was also diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
Bradley underwent surgery to insert a feeding tube into his stomach because he was unable to swallow from brain damage.
Sharon said: ‘We needed 24-hour care because he was unable to walk, talk or feed himself.’
Sharon added: ‘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.’
Darren was jailed for four years after being charged with GBH with intent and handed a 10-year restraining order.
Police have now re-opened the case to see if further charges can be brought.
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