Couple sent to jail after baby shaken to death

A 26-year-old man and his 21 year old girlfriend have been sent to prison for a total of 13- and-a-half years after the death of a newborn baby.

James Larkin shook the eleven-week-old so violently that he caused irreversible brain damage. Baby Christopher died the following day in hospital.

Larkin of Coppice Road, Highfield, Doncaster, was found guilty of manslaughter and perverting the course of justice. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

His girlfriend - and the baby's mother - Laura Ostle, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Ostle formerly from Dunscroft, Doncaster and now of Stoke-on-Trent, was sentenced to one-and-a-half years in prison.

The NSPCC said in a statement that baby Christopher had been 'tragically failed' by the couple who should have been 'keeping him safe.'

It went on to say that not only did Larkin shake Christopher so hard he suffered unsurvivable injuries but that his own mother helped to cover up the truth about what happened to him.