Father who killed infant son and mum who let it happen sentenced
Father Michael Davis who beat his infant son to death has been jailed for a minimum of 22 years. The baby's mother, Kayleigh Driver, was jailed for seven years for the crimes of causing or allowing the death of a child and causing or allowing a child to suffer serious physical injury.
Last month Davis was found guilty by a jury at Leicester Crown Court of murdering his son Ollie Davis after he physically abused the month-old child and caused 40 bone fractures, including a snapped neck, which ultimately killed the infant.
Paramedics were called to Driver's mother's home in Upper Temple Walk, Beaumont Leys, Leicester, in October 2017, after Davis found the baby unresponsive in the crib next to his bed. At first there were no signs of abuse but a post-mortem examination revealed horrific injuries including brain damage and wounds all over his body that experts said could not have been caused by one incident, but by days of abuse.
READ MORE: Why it took so long to convict Michael Davis of killing his son
Davis, 29, denied causing the fatal injuries but the jury found him guilty after hearing that the horrific injuries had been caused over several days - most of the wounds, including the fatal neck fracture having been caused between 10 and four days before his death.
The baby's mother, Kayleigh Driver, 31, was also charged with murder but the jury at Leicester Crown Court found her not guilty of that charge but guilty of two others. Davis and Driver, both of Carlisle Street, West End, Leicester, appeared at Loughborough Magistrates' Court, sitting as a crown court, for their sentencing hearing today (Wednesday).
Narita Bahra, representing Driver, said her client had multiple sclerosis which was getting worse, clinical depression and a mental age of just over 11 years. She asked the judge to suspend her client's jail sentence.
Referring to Driver's older children, who live with their father, she said: "Kayleigh Driver presents as a very tragic figure. She is a woman of hitherto positive good character and cared for three children alone for two years, day and night, as a single parent.
"There's no evidence of those children coming to any harm. There's no punishment that will be greater than the suffering that she has suffered since Ollie's death.
"There is nothing left for this woman in life. There isn't any benefit to physical incarceration." The court heard that Davis lacked maturity and never had any intention to kill Ollie.
Before sentencing Davis, Mr Justice Cotter repeated some of the expert witness testimony about the "terrible array of injuries" which had included crushing the baby's ribs, twisting his limbs and pushing his head so far back his neck snapped.
He said: "Ollie would have suffered intense pain. Each of the injuries was caused by you, Michael Davis and I'm sure that you, Kayleigh Driver, did not cause any injuries to Ollie."
He told Davis, who was also found guilty of two charges of causing grievous bodily harm to Ollie, that the attacks had happened on at least four occasions. He said: "You became frustrated and angry with Ollie's perfectly normal behaviour and this led to terrible violence against him."
The judge told Driver she had clearly lied during the trial and must have heard him screaming when the injuries were inflicted by Davis. He said Ollie's arm injuries would have led to him being in "excruciating pain" and that it was "inconceivable" that she did not know anything was wrong.
But he said her health "warrants a merciful approach" to sentencing.
The results of a Child Safeguarding Practice Review, published after the jury's verdicts, found social services had concluded closer work with the family was not considered necessary “despite the significant previous involvement which both parents had had with children’s social care”.