'Frustrated' dad who killed crying baby is jailed

A man who killed his baby son when his frustration at the infant's crying "boiled over" has been jailed.

Peter Sayle, 32, pleaded guilty to an alternative count of manslaughter five days into his murder trial after more than three-and-half years of denying he was responsible for causing his son any harm.

Six-week-old Huxley was taken to hospital in the early hours of 14 June 2022 after his mother dialled 999 and told the operator her son was not breathing at their home in Fulwood, Preston.

Sentencing him to nine years and 11 months at Preston Crown Court, Mr Justice Bryan said "you shook him forcefully, causing the significant numbers of very serious injuries from which Huxley could not, and did not, recover".

Earlier Sayle had taken his son downstairs in an attempt to feed and settle him but claimed the child made a gurgling noise followed by a gasp of air and then stopped breathing.

But Justice Bryan told him: "I am satisfied, so that I am sure, that the reality was rather different, and that whilst you were downstairs with Huxley, you violently shook him as your frustration and anger at his crying, and your inability to settle him, boiled over."

He continued: "So how did it come to pass that you came to inflict such horrific and catastrophic injuries upon Huxley? The answer is revealed from searches recovered by the police on your mobile phone which you made before Huxley's collapse, and which you accepted were carried out by you.

"These revealed that you had difficulties bonding with your baby, and his crying made you frustrated, especially at night, with such entries including 'am I being too rough with my newborn', 'I get frustrated with my baby at night', 'my girlfriend keeps telling me I'm doing everything wrong with baby' and 'new father frustration'.

"Such frustration boiled over to anger on the night of 14 June 2022, whilst in sole charge of Huxley in the living room of your home."

A CT scan at Royal Preston Hospital revealed bleeding in different parts of Huxley's brain which raised suspicions of a shaking-type injury and he was transferred to the intensive care unit at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.

A review of the scan indicated the injuries would have resulted in immediate symptoms.

Huxley never regained consciousness and treatment was withdrawn on 14 July 2022, the court heard.

A post-mortem examination ruled the cause of death was a "traumatic head injury" as the pathologist thought Huxley was forcefully gripped or squeezed around the chest during an episode of violent shaking.

Mark Rhind KC, defending, told the court Sayle "is remorseful" and "utterly devastated by the loss of his son and the fact he has admitted responsibility for it".

"He has pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of his own son. That is not a nebulous thing. It is an admission," he said.

"He has not claimed there has been some sort of accident or some rough handling.

"Whatever happened must have happened in a moment of frustration, exasperation and in tiredness."

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