Father damaged baby's brain

The court heard Holland was a "largely uninterested" father

A Devon man who caused brain damage to his prematurely-born twin baby son has been jailed for a year.

Andrew Holland, 24, of Valley Close, Brixham, appeared for sentence at Exeter Crown Court on Friday having pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to causing grievous bodily harm and child cruelty.

Holland, a fish porter, was told by recorder Keith Lindblom QC that treatment baby Kyle needed urgently was delayed because Holland failed to own up to what he had done until later.

It was not clear whether this had made any difference to the long-term prognosis for the child, which was "bleak".

The vision of what he has done will never leave him Rupert Taylor, defence counsel

The child had recently undergone surgery to relieve pressure on his brain and was showing signs of cerebral palsy, said the recorder.

Prosecutor David Evans told the court Kyle and twin Cameron were born to Holland and his partner, Rebecca Kidd, in April last year and were eight weeks premature.

On 27 August last year, Holland, a "largely uninterested father", was left to care for them.

After two hours he telephoned Miss Kidd telling her Kyle would not stop screaming and she returned home to find him in an "unnatural sleep".

Holland would not say what had happened and the child's condition deteriorated rapidly in hospital.

The defendant gave no account of what had happened to health professionals who questioned him.

The baby was transferred to Bristol Children's Hospital next day, and the day after that Holland denied he had shaken the child.

Mr Evans said a scan then showed the child had bleeding to the brain, and a neurosurgeon said he would had to have been shaken "like a rag doll".

'Permanent injury'

On 5 September the child was stabilised and Holland then told the police in interview that he had shaken the child "quite hard" but did not intend to harm him.

The prosecutor said Holland had caused "permanent injury" to his son.

There was irreversible loss of brain tissue which could affect his eyesight in later life and he would need "long-term follow up".

Defence counsel Rupert Taylor said Holland was "immature and totally ill-equipped to deal with parenthood".

Mr Taylor told the court: "The vision of what he has done will never leave him."