Man denies murdering baby boy

A man charged with murdering a baby told hospital staff he "shook him gently", a court has heard.

Ten-month-old Cameron Wootton, from Coventry, was admitted to hospital on 9 May last year with serious head injuries and died two days later.

A post-mortem examination found a 8.6in (22cm) fracture on the baby's skull.

Ryan Ledger, 20, of Walsgrave, Coventry, denies the charge. The court was told he had called the emergency services for help.

Mr Ledger, of Wigston Road, rang from his girlfriend Stacey Jackson's home in Navigation Way.

He (Cameron) was something I had wanted my whole life, something I could love and that would always need me Cameron's mother, Stacey Jackson

Mark Wall, prosecuting, told Birmingham Crown Court that it was Mr Ledger who caused the injuries.

He said Mr Ledger had given "the impression to Stacey that he was jealous of Cameron, or, at least, jealous of the attention Cameron was getting from his mother".

In a recording of the 999 call Miss Jackson could be heard screaming in the background and Mr Ledger could be heard telling the operator that he had just been cuddling the baby when he started being sick.

Once at hospital, Mr Ledger told staff he had tried to shake Cameron awake.

"He said he'd done it gently," Mr Wall said.

Miss Jackson, 16 at the time of the incident, told the court she had been downstairs cooking and Mr Ledger had been upstairs putting Cameron to bed when she heard him shouting for her.

'Shifting blame'

She told the jury: "He (Cameron) was something I had wanted my whole life, something I could love and that would always need me."

Defending Mr Ledger, Kim Hollis QC asked her if she had made allegations about Mr Ledger "to shift any blame for what had happened".

She denied doing so and said she was not aware of any accident where Cameron could have banged his head.

She also told the court that Mr Ledger could get angry when Cameron cried and once said he would give the baby something to cry about.

The court also heard from Cameron's father, Anthony Wootton, who separated from Miss Jackson after Cameron's birth.

He told the court his son was a "very happy, pleasant young lad", who often came to stay with him.

The trial continues.