Man jailed over death of baby daughter

Scott Harman, 25, shook his little daughter Jessica with such force she suffered a fatal head injury.

A jury at Lewes Crown Court convicted Harman of manslaughter and child cruelty after a month-long trial.

Jailing him Judge Richard Brown told him by pleading not guilty he had shown not the slightest remorse for his actions.

Judge Brown told him: 'The jury have, in my view, convicted you on the clearest evidence of unlawfully killing your baby daughter.

'She was eight months old. She required the most careful attention and care. Instead of giving her care, you viciously assaulted her on several occasions using extreme force to fracture her ribs. On the final occasion, you shook her or possibly flung her on to the bed.

'All these actions were no doubt done by you in a moment of uncontrolled temper.'

The jury of six men and six women took eight hours over two days to reach their verdict.

Harman, of Highfield Road, Horam, near Heathfield, showed no emotion as the verdict was announced.

The dead child's mother, Nicola, 33, was not in court to see her former husband jailed. Their troubled marriage ended within weeks of their daughter's death.

After he was sentenced, Mrs Harman wiped away tears as she appeared on the steps on the court while a police officer gave a written statement on her reaction.

It said: 'My beautiful tiny baby girl weighed just 3lbs 13ozs when she was born on August 8 2003. Sadly, on April 1 2004, aged just eight months, she was so cruelly taken from me.

'Four hard years have gone by and now at last I can finally say "May you rest in peace".

'I hope my family and I can live our lives the way we should.

'I can still picture Jessica's lovely little face with her big blue eyes looking at me, and she was always dressed in pink.

'Jessica, you will always be with me, in my memories which will never fade and forever in my heart.'

During the trial the court heard Jessica was alone with her father when she stopped breathing.

He was changing her in an upstairs bedroom at the family home in Grange Close, Horam, near Heathfield, after returning home from a day's work in an air conditioning factory at Hailsham.

His wife was downstairs eating her supper when she heard her husband shout out that something was wrong with their daughter.

Despite desperate attempts to resuscitate her, Jessica was pronounced dead later that evening at Eastbourne District General Hospital.

But after she died a post mortem revealed she had a severe head injury and 15 fractures of her ribs. The rib injuries had been caused on at least three separate occasions in the weeks leading up to her death.

Both parents were arrested within days of her death on suspicion of cruelty but police inquiries against them were dropped.

The post-mortem examination concluded the cause of death was unascertained. At an inquest in February 2006, after hearing the medical evidence the coroner asked for a further police investigation. Harman was charged in July that year.

In court Harman told the jury he loved his daughter and had been the happiest man alive when she was born.

But Mrs Harman, 33, who has two other children by previous relationships, said on the day of Jessica's death the baby had cried when she saw her father.

Harman denied manslaughter on April 1 2004 and three counts of cruelty to a child between January and April the same year.