A 22-year-old father has been jailed for nine years for the manslaughter of his 11-week-old son, who suffered a catastrophic brain injury and 18 bone fractures after being violently shaken.
Jordan Saxton was cleared of murder by a jury at Oxford Crown Court but convicted of manslaughter. He had been left alone with baby Jayden for just 90 minutes when he attacked the child, damaging his head, legs and ribs, and causing blindness through damage to blood vessels in his eyes.
The court heard that the injuries would have required considerable force, similar to that of a high-speed car crash. The boy died two days after the attack in November last year. Paramedics giving evidence said there was no sign of choking or food caught in his throat, contrary to Saxton's claim that the baby began to choke while being fed.
Prosecutor Paul Dunkels said Saxton acted in frustration because the child would not settle, gripping him forcibly around the chest and shaking him. The boy's mother, Tracy, had left the home in Faringdon, Oxfordshire, at around 4.30pm to visit her father, leaving Jayden in Saxton's sole care. When she left, the baby was behaving normally and showed no bruising.
In evidence, the boy's mother said Saxton had cheated on her during her pregnancy but had become a 'changed man' who doted on his first-born son. She said she had no concerns about the way he handled or looked after Jayden before his death.
