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Claire Thompson guilty of GBH to Baby but spared jail

Claire Thompson, of Sudbury, Suffolk, UK, was found guilty in March of GBH, (Grievous Bodily Harm) to a baby in her care. Fracturing the baby’s skull, causing a rib fracture and up to three leg fractures but has been spared jail by a compassionate judge.

At Ipswich Crown Court yesterday, the 32-year-old was handed a nine-month suspended prison sentence and told she must carry out 200 hours of community service.

Judge David Goodin had been told that Thompson had “lost everything” following the incident said to her in passing sentence that she had already suffered more than any sentence the court could impose on her.

He added: “All evidence simply confirms you to be an industrious, decent and placid well-liked young woman who was slow to anger and disinclined to confrontation,”

“The only sensible explanation for these injuries must have been a sudden and momentary loss of control.”

Thompson was found guilty at the end of March of causing GBH to a baby that she was looking after. However, she was found not guilty of intentionally causing the injuries.

Claire Thompson denied both charges, she admitted that she was one of three people who could have caused them in the eyes of the law.

The court heard yesterday from Lindsay Cox, representing Thompson, who told how his client was unlikely to appear before the court again. He also spoke of the effect the incident had had.

“She was engaged and lost that,” he said. “The home that she had with a former partner was again lost to her. She was working in the retail industry in a job that would bring her into contact with children. Although she has not been told that she is fired, she has not gone back to work, and I cannot in all honestly think that she could keep that appointment.”

At Thompson’s trial an expert told how the skull fracture was likely to have been caused by the baby’s head hitting a hard surface with force and the broken rib was likely to have been caused by severe squeezing. The leg fractures were said to have been caused by forceful pulling or twisting or violent shaking.

Thompson was also told that she must pay £500 towards prosecution costs.

         

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Crushed Baby - Mother 8 years jail

A two-month-old baby boy died after Claire Biggs, 27, the mother, inflicted a “horrific” series of injuries. Claire has been jailed for eight years.

Claire Biggs, 27, from East London, repeatedly crushed her baby son Rhys, fracturing 17 of his ribs. She previously had a daughter who was taken into care in 2001.

Paul Husband, 33, her partner, was found guilty of neglect.

Biggs, a former crack addict, had denied the charges and claimed her boyfriend was “a murderer”.

Paul Husband, previously convicted of a sexual offence involving a child in Scotland, also denied the charges and is due to be sentenced at a later date.

In addition to having his chest repeatedly crushed, the infant also suffered a broken wrist and shoulder, injuries that one medical expert told the court would have left the baby in “extreme pain”.

As Biggs sobbed in court, Judge Lindsay Burn, sentencing, said the jail term must reflect society’s revulsion at her crimes. “To cover up for the serious injuries you knew you had inflicted upon your baby, you deliberately decided that he would not have medical help to relieve his considerable pain and suffering.”

As Biggs was dragged struggling to the cells by two dock officers, she screamed: “I didn’t hurt my son…I didn’t kill him. Ask him why he killed him.”

The case has several parallels with the shocking abuse suffered by Baby P, as the attacks went unnoticed by health workers despite the mother’s history.

Against a backdrop of missed opportunities by health agencies and a breakdown in information sharing, she was able to repeatedly crush the helpless child’s chest, fracturing 17 ribs.

During his short life Rhys came under the care of two London councils, first Newham, where he died, and Camden where his mother had spent time in a refuge.

Apart from the mistakes made by the authorities, Biggs dodged a number of pre-arranged appointments.

When one did finally take place, a health visitor described Rhys as “active and alert”, while a senior paediatric physiotherapist who checked his club foot noted no “abnormal marks”.

Speaking after the sentencing, Kim Bromley-Derry, executive director for children and young people at Newham Council expressed the sympathies of the agencies involved and said changes from a subsequent case review had already been implemented.

“We have fully implemented the findings of the review, but we continue to keep a close eye on things to see if there is more we can do to improve,” he added.

In a statement, the NSPCC, said the case once again highlighted “a loophole” in the law that allowed people who hurt children to “evade justice”.