Teen Couple 'Shook Their Baby To Death'

A teenage couple allegedly shook their four-month-old baby so hard they caused fatal brain injuries, a court has heard.

Christopher Roberts and Karen Irvine, who are 19 but were both 17 at the time, are accused of assaulting Lucas Irvine violently enough to cause massive swelling of the brain and bleeding eyes.

Prosecutor Anthony Watson told Preston Crown Court the baby's mother told a series of lies and blamed her partner when interviewed about the death.

Suspicions were raised in November 2010 when neighbours in the Scotforth area of Lancaster heard a scream just before 11pm, followed by a loud knock on their door.

They answered to find Irvine, who said: "My baby's dead."

Neighbour Christine Christian, a former midwife, went next door to find the girl's partner on the landing holding the child who was grey and unconscious.

Lucas, who was a twin, was taken to Lancaster Royal Infirmary but died four days later after being transferred to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool.

Mr Watson QC told a jury that he did not know which of the two defendants had shaken the baby "but they shared an intention to cause him really serious harm".

"Both are responsible for the death. Both told lies from the very start, from the 999 call, to the doctors at hospital and to the police... from the moment of Lucas' collapse.

"One of them has clearly shaken Lucas. That is beyond doubt."

A post mortem examination revealed that Lucas died from a "non-accidental head and spinal injury" and that his brain was "massively swollen" which was consistent with "deliberate and violent shaking".

Mr Watson said each had blamed the other for being "volatile and behaving in a frightening and aggressive way".

Both defendants, who are on bail, deny murder, manslaughter and causing or allowing the death of a child.

The trial continues.