Grace Thorpe death: Man jailed for murdering toddler who called him 'daddy'

A 27-year-old man who caused terrible injuries to a toddler as she sat in her high chair has been jailed for life after he admitted murdering her.

Adam Jackson was guilty of a "spontaneous eruption of uncontrolled violence" against his partner's two-year-old daughter, Grace Thorpe, who had been encouraged to call him "Daddy", Teesside Crown Court heard.

Jackson was in sole care of the little girl at her mother's home in New Marske, Cleveland, in November 2020, when he hit her at least seven times, fracturing her skull, breaking her left leg and causing serious internal injuries.

She was treated at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, and then flown to a specialist children's unit in Newcastle, where she died two days later.

Jackson did not immediately call 999, but when he did he claimed Grace had fallen from her high chair, a story he stuck to until post-mortem evidence proved it was false.

Jackson admitted murder and was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 16-and-a-half years.

The prosecution said Grace was born in June 2018 and her mother, Alice Quine, split up from the little girl's father and moved in with her own mother.

She began a relationship with Jackson a year before the murder. Family and friends initially liked him, and he moved in with her after lockdown.

Mr Dry said Jackson would become bad-tempered if he did not have money for cannabis, which he used every day.

Hair samples from Grace showed she had been exposed to cannabis and cocaine, the court heard, and Ms Quine had previously asked him to leave the house before they got back together.

She had gone to work on the day Jackson murdered Grace, Mr Dry said. The emergency services were to find the toddler injured, cold and wearing only a nappy.

Jackson claimed she had fallen from her high chair, saying it had a faulty strap.

Tests later found it was safe, and forensic experts found that Grace had breathed out blood on to the tray, showing she was sitting in the chair while she was attacked.

Ms Quine read a victim statement to the court, saying the loss of her daughter had a devastating effect on the whole family.

And she asked the defendant, who had his head bowed in the dock, why he had not just handed over care of Grace to someone else that day.

Peter Makepeace QC, defending, said Jackson, who has no previous convictions, did not intend to kill Grace, saying it had been a "spontaneous eruption of uncontrolled violence".

Judge Howard Crowson said Jackson was guilty of a gross breach of trust.

Outside court, temporary Detective Chief Inspector Peter Carr, said: "Instead of looking after and caring for her, he assaulted her, causing her fatal injuries.