Mother woke up 'to find son dead in Moses basket'

A Cumbrian mother has told a court harrowing details of how she found her baby son dead in his Moses basket, after her partner woke her up "in a panic".

Jodie Kerr, 26, said Craig Beattie roused her to say their six-week-old son Kye Kerr had an unexplained mark on his head.

Miss Kerr then peered at her son beside her own bed in the basket, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

"My son was already dead when I looked in that Moses basket," she told the jury.

The jury heard she was hysterical, and ran down the street cradling the child shouting: "He's not breathing! He's not breathing!".

Craig Beattie, 33, her now ex-partner, denies the manslaughter of their son by assaulting the child.

The prosecution alleged he did so "perhaps out of frustration".

The child was born eight weeks early and spent more than a month in a specialist baby care unit at Cumberland Infirmary before going to the family home in Carlisle.

But just over a week later he was dead with a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain and in his eyes caused by a traumatic "shaking impact injury", the jury heard.

Miss Kerr had gone to bed around 7pm on the evening of July 10, 2011, after Beattie had returned home from shift work at 6pm and he took over looking after the child.

She said the boy was "perfectly fine" when she left him but she was later woken up by Beattie.

She ran with the child out of the house to the home of her sister, Andrea Kerr, a few doors down the street from her home in Meadow View, Carlisle.

Paramedics were called and the child rushed to hospital, but doctors could not revive him and he was pronounced dead at 8.47am on July 11.

Two days later, a post-mortem examination revealed Kye had suffered a fractured skull and police were called in.

Further medical expert analysis initially suggested the skull injury could have been accidental and occurred after the child died, Stephen Meadowcroft QC, prosecuting, told the court.

However, further tests were carried out and it was discovered Kye suffered bleeding from his optic nerves in both eyes, in the opinion of medics, shortly before death.

More tests revealed brain swelling, injuries and bleeding, and the local coroner requested a report from Dr Martin Ward-Platt, a consultant paediatrician.

He concluded injuries "inflicted over a period of time" were probably the cause of Kye's death.

Another report by Dr Helen Fernandes, a consultant neurosurgeon, concluded Kye suffered injuries to his skull and brain, and the cause was a "traumatic shaking, impact type injury".

Mr Meadowcroft said five medical experts had now reviewed the evidence.

They concluded Kye suffered swelling and bleeding on the brain from a traumatic head injury caused "shortly before or at the time of death".

The skull fracture was likely to have been caused by a "significant impact on a flat surface or surface with a straight edge," the experts concluded.

Mr Meadowcroft said in the absence of any "plausible account" from Kye's parents, experts said the child suffered a "non-accidental injury" with all the signs of a "shaking impact injury".

Both parents were arrested by police and Beattie later charged with manslaughter.

The jury were told they must decide if Kye's injuries were accidental or from trauma inflicted as a result of deliberate or unlawful force and, if so, who did it.

But Sam Green QC, defending, cross examining Miss Kerr, questioned her account of events.

She had gone to bed "sick and tired" at 7pm on the evening Kye was left with Beattie because the previous night, a Saturday, she had gone out drinking in pubs and she told police she was "absolutely knackered".

Mr Green suggested she was nursing a "nasty hangover" and had been sick twice on the patio and later Kye was in the Moses basket beside her.

Mr Green said: "You must have been alone together in that bedroom?"

Miss Kerr replied: "I was asleep though."

He said the witness had in the past demonstrated a "capability for criminal wrongdoing".

The jury heard Miss Kerr had previous convictions for criminal damage and having a bladed article in 2008, common assault in 2005, aged 15 and aged 13, in 2003, served a sentence in detention for kidnap and assault.

Miss Kerr said: "I would never harm a child. Yes I did have a troubled past when I was a child myself but I would never harm my son."

Mr Green then told the jury about a conversation secretly recorded by police at her home between Miss Kerr and her brother about Kye's death and legal proceedings.

Parts of the conversation were inaudible but the brief recording was played to the jury.

Miss Kerr's brother is heard saying: "I have got a funny feeling something is not right, you have not been telling us (inaudible) ... tell us the truth."

Miss Kerr replied: "I have told them everything I know. There is no way I hurt my baby."

The witness is then heard on the tape saying the words: "... dropped him on the kitchen. For two seconds the boy screamed. There was no marks on him."

The witness said she was explaining to her brother about her young daughter climbing in to Kye's chair about a week before the fatal incident.

Mr Green continued: "Were you sharing with him a possible explanation you were not sharing with police?"

"No," Miss Kerr replied.

The trial was adjourned.