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Adam Stokes jailed for killing baby daughter Scarlett | Adam Stokes jailed for killing baby daughter Scarlett |
(35 minutes later) | |
A father who shook his nine-week-old daughter to death has been jailed for seven years. | A father who shook his nine-week-old daughter to death has been jailed for seven years. |
Adam Stokes, 33, shook Scarlett Stokes-Craig with "excessive force" at his home in Luton in January 2013, causing "appalling injuries". | Adam Stokes, 33, shook Scarlett Stokes-Craig with "excessive force" at his home in Luton in January 2013, causing "appalling injuries". |
Luton Crown Court heard she died in hospital 10 days later, when her life support was withdrawn. | Luton Crown Court heard she died in hospital 10 days later, when her life support was withdrawn. |
Stokes, who was convicted of manslaughter, was jailed at the Old Bailey by Mrs Justice Maura McGowan. | |
Mrs Justice McGowan told Stokes: "Whatever you did, it caused the death of Scarlett and you will have to live with the fact that you killed your daughter for the rest of your life." | |
The trial heard Scarlett lost consciousness at Stokes' eighth floor flat in Runfold, having suffered a cardiac arrest. | |
She was taken to Luton and Dunstable Hospital with head injuries and then transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London the same day. | |
After staying in hospital for 10 days, life support was withdrawn on 24 January 2013. | |
'Lost your temper' | |
Experts concluded that her injuries had been a result of Stokes mishandling Scarlett. | |
Mrs Justice McGowan told Stokes: "On that morning something caused you to treat her with an unacceptable level of force. It is likely that you shook her having lost your temper for some reason." | |
The judge said she accepted that his violent attack was "brief" and "unintended" against the "placid" little baby. | |
But she told him: "Whilst what you did took only a matter of a moment you caused serious injury and, despite the care of Luton and Dunstable Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital, Scarlett sadly died. | |
"She was vulnerable and trusted to your care. She was your daughter and your duty was to protect and cherish her - in these few brief moments you failed." | |
The baby had been born with a birth defect but this had been rectified with surgery. | |
The judge said "there was no reason to think that she would not have grown up to be a happy little girl". | |
The court heard that Stokes had been happy about becoming a father and that he had usually had a loving relationship with the baby. |
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