A stepfather has been found guilty of murdering a 10-month-old baby boy.
Jacob Crouch was born healthy on 17 February 2020 and died alone in his cot on 30 December 2020 at his home in Linton, near Swadlincote.
His stepfather Craig Crouch, 39, was accused of having caused up to 41 rib fractures to Jacob in at least five separate assaults, Derby Crown Court heard.
Expert evidence showed the baby later contracted peritonitis – an infection of the lining of the abdominal organs – and died.
Crouch was convicted of murder and three counts of child cruelty after the jury deliberated for four days following a seven-week trial.
The boy’s mother Gemma Barton, 33, was cleared of murder, an alternative charge of manslaughter, and two counts of child cruelty, but was found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child and a third count of child cruelty.
Opening the case in June, prosecutor Mary Prior KC said: “Neither sought medical help for Jacob at any stage for the pain and suffering caused when his bones were broken or in the few days that followed.”
She added: “Neither got Jacob out of what must have been a life with episodes of significant pain and suffering.
“Jacob was not given the care that as a baby he needed and deserved.”
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A ‘vicious assault’
Mrs Prior said Jacob died following a “vicious assault” which was the culmination of regular abuse within a “culture of cruelty”.
Dr Sarah Dixon, a consultant paediatrician, told the court Jacob suffered “repeated physical abuse” in the weeks, days and hours prior to his death and it was “not remotely” possible the injuries could have been self-inflicted.
They included a traumatic bowel perforation which led to a fatal infection, which forensic pathologist Dr Michael Biggs said could only have been sustained through blunt force trauma such as a punch, kick or stamp.
He also said he would expect to see such injuries in car crash victims or those who had suffered a multi-storey fall.
While Dr Biggs said Jacob’s injuries would have left him “systematically unwell” in the time before his death, Crouch claimed in a 999 call Jacob was “fine” just two hours before he was pronounced dead by paramedics.
‘It was not me so that leaves Craig’
Giving evidence, Crouch, a forklift driver at JCB, said Jacob’s injuries had “nothing to do with me”, stating he “didn’t see anything” and “didn’t see anyone do anything to hurt” his stepson.
Barton also denied ever harming her son, and when asked who could have inflicted the injuries, said: “It was not me so that leaves Craig.”
