Family hauled before the courts for covering up Wakefield baby's agonising broken arm
Three members of a Wakefield family were hauled before the courts after concocting a cover story when their baby was left with a broken arm.
The mother and father of the child, along with the baby’s paternal grandmother, all admitted perverting the course of justice while the father and mother admitted child cruelty.
Leeds Crown Court heard that the trio from the Castleford area - who cannot be named to protect the child’s identity - devised a desperate story that the six-month-old had been injured by one of his toys.
In truth, the 27-year-old father had roughly manhandled the boy and heard a “pop”, leaving the youngster in agonising pain. They did not seek hospital treatment for almost two days.
All three escaped immediate custody, with the judge opting to give them a suspended sentence.
Judge Christopher Batty told them: “He was seriously injured. You knew full well there was a serious problem.
“As parents, your responsibility was to care for him, to look after his health and wellbeing. That had to be your priority, but for you, sadly it was not.
“You were more concerned about the impact it might have had on you as individuals and as parents.
“But you consulted with grandma. You must have been hoping for it to go away. He was taken to hospital but it was well over 24 hours too late.
“Between you, you stuck to the plan at the hospital, with the police, with social services and the family court. It ended up snowballing.”
The court heard that the baby had been injured in December 2021 after the mother passed him to the boy’s father.
He eventually told police he had fumbled the tot, and grabbed his arm to prevent him falling which made the popping sound.
But having made no attempt to seek treatment despite the boy’s cries, they confessed to the grandmother who devised a story about the baby hitting himself with a toy helicopter.
When they eventually took him to hospital, staff immediately became suspicious and social services were contacted.
The court was told that the boy also had a black eye, which Judge Batty concerningly said had never been explained.
It was only after the boy’s 29-year-old mother eventually admitted what happened that the scope of the lie began to unravel.
The child has since been removed from their care and lives with the maternal grandparents. The parents are only permitted supervised access.
Little mitigation was offered by the defendants’ barristers after Judge Batty said he would not jail them.
He gave the father and the mother a 22-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months. The father was also given 15 rehabilitation days with probation and 150 hours of unpaid work.
The mother was given 20 rehabilitation days with a six-month alcohol treatment requirement.
The 51-year-old grandmother received a 15-month sentence, suspended for 18 months. She was also given 25 rehabilitation days.