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A man who shook and beat a baby to death while the boy’s mother went shopping has been jailed for seven and a half years yesterday.
Slater Sharkey, the boy suffered 25 bruises from his head to his toes when he died aged 13 months in December 2010, a jury at Newcastle Crown Court heard.
Richard Morgan, 33, of Tantobie, County Durham, who harmed the baby led to the death of the baby after 18 hours of child beating.
The mother of the child and partner of the killer, Rachel Peacock, 31, was also convicted of cruelty to a child but was cleared of causing or allowing her son’s death.
She had left the baby in charge of Morgan, who was not the boy’s father, when the fatal injury was inflicted, Mr Justice King told him as he passed sentence at the Newcastle Crown Court.
He was convicted of manslaughter following a trial lasting over four weeks. The judge said that killing of Slater was the result of Morgan’s primarily forcefully shaking the boy in a momentary loss of control, at a time when he had become frustrated by the child’s whining and crying due to the absence of his mother.
Irrespective of the circumstances leading to his frustration at the child’s behaviour Morgan cannot justify treating Slater in the way. Though the judge accepted Morgan did not intend to inflict serious harm when he shook the baby, and the fact that he was good father to his own children still did not had to act this way.
Rachel Peacock was living with Morgan for two months and though she had been cleared of causing or allowing her son’s death she was convicted of a cruelty charge related to an incident a month before Slater’s death when she failed to take the child to a hospital against her GPs advice.
She was handed a 12-month community order by Mr Justice King, who said the single episode of neglect had not contributed to her son's death.
Morgan claimed he had left the baby momentarily in the living room and when he returned, he found the boy had collapsed.
After Peacock returned they rushed the boy to the University hospital of North Durham but could not save him.
Detective Chief Inspector Steve Chapman said that it was all about Richard Morgan taking up the responsibility for his actions. He always claimed that he had not done it.
But ultimately the jury found him guilty.