Father guilty of baby's murder

Tony Allen during the trial with his wife, Sherrie

A Cornish man has been found guilty of murdering his baby son.

Tony Allen, 29, from Bodmin, had denied killing six-week-old Dominic by shaking him violently.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted by a jury of six men and six women at Truro Crown Court.

Judge William Taylor said there was no doubt Allen had a "sudden loss of control - a moment of temper which he immediately regretted".

He shook him like a rag doll

Martin Meeke QC

Dominic died at the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske, Truro, in April 2001.

A post-mortem examination found a three-centimetre bruise to the child's skull, along with bleeding in the brain, spinal cord and eyes.

Martin Meeke QC, prosecuting, said the injuries were consistent with violent shaking.

Martin Meeke said: "He shook him like a rag doll so the child's head flipped backwards and forwards as it was shaken."

'Over the moon'

During the trial Allen said he loved his son "more than anything" and had not killed him.

He denied murder and another charge of manslaughter.

Allen admitted he used to bounce him on his knee and throw him up in the air and catch him, until a relative pointed out this was not wise

Allen said he and his girlfriend, Sherrie, were "over the moon" when she became pregnant.

'Not lost cool'

Under cross-examination by Mr Meeke, Allen agreed that Dominic had been a "whingy, grizzling baby".

But he said he had not "lost his cool".

Allen married Sherrie after the child's death, and the couple moved to the St Austell area.

However, judge William Taylor said there was only one sentence for murder and that was life imprisonment.