Father used baby as 'punchbag'

A man has been jailed after using his baby son as a "punchbag" and causing the three-month-old to die after suffering four heart attacks.

Doctors said Ellis Palmer's injuries were equivalent to those suffered by victims of a car crash or an explosion.

The jury heard Ellis died in hospital on 4 August 2001 after sustaining head, chest, neck, liver and spleen injuries.

His father, John Palmer, 22, of Woodbine Terrace, Exeter admitted manslaughter but denied murder.

You do not need me to tell you what you did to that child was horrific

Mrs Justice Hallett

The court heard Palmer's partner, Karen Tucker, had returned to work after maternity leave that day, leaving Palmer alone with the baby for the first time.

Stephen Solley QC, defending, said Palmer had woken up and found he was lying across the baby's chest.

He said Palmer was unable to cope when he noticed the baby's face was red and blotchy and his eyes half closed.

He hit the baby in a panic after phoning his partner twice, who told him to phone an ambulance, Mr Solley said.

'Horrific events'

Sentencing Palmer at Exeter Crown Court on Wednesday, Mrs Justice Hallett said he was a "very angry young man" with a history of violent behaviour.

She told him: "You do not need me to tell you what you did to that child was horrific. You used your young, tiny son as a punchbag.

"It seems your response to the child being ill was to attack it in this way, which again seems a most strange sequence of events."