‘Frustrated’ father who killed crying baby jailed for nine years and 11 months

A man who killed his baby son when his frustration at the infant’s crying “boiled over” has been jailed for nine years and 11 months.

Peter Sayle, 32, pleaded guilty to an alternative count of manslaughter five days into his murder trial at Preston Crown Court after more than three-and-a-half years of denying he was responsible for causing his son any harm.

Six-week-old Huxley was rushed to hospital in the early hours of June 14 2022 after his mother, Livinia Sharples, dialled 999 and told the operator her son was not breathing at their home in Fulwood, Preston.

Earlier Sayle had taken the youngster downstairs in an attempt to feed and settle him but claimed his son made a gurgling noise followed by a gasp of air and then stopped breathing.

Sentencing him on Thursday, Mr Justice Bryan told him: “I am satisfied, so that I am sure, that the reality was rather different, and that whilst you were downstairs with Huxley, you violently shook him as your frustration and anger at his crying, and your inability to settle him, boiled over.

“So how did it come to pass that you came to inflict such horrific and catastrophic injuries upon Huxley? The answer is revealed from searches recovered by the police on your mobile phone which you made before Huxley’s collapse, and which you accepted were carried out by you.

“These revealed that you had difficulties bonding with your baby, and his crying made you frustrated, especially at night, with such entries including ‘am I being too rough with my newborn’, ‘I get frustrated with my baby at night’, ‘my girlfriend keeps telling me I’m doing everything wrong with baby’ and ‘new father frustration’.

“Such frustration boiled over to anger on the night of 14 June 2022 when, whilst in sole charge of Huxley in the living room of your home, you shook him forcefully, causing the significant numbers of very serious injuries from which Huxley could not, and did not, recover.”

A CT scan at Royal Preston Hospital revealed bleeding in different parts of Huxley’s brain which raised suspicions of a shaking-type injury and he was transferred to the intensive care unit at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

A review of the scan indicated the injuries would have resulted in immediate symptoms.

Huxley never regained consciousness and treatment was withdrawn on July 14 2022, the court heard.

A post-mortem examination ruled the cause of death was a “traumatic head injury” as the pathologist thought Huxley was forcefully gripped or squeezed around the chest during an episode of violent shaking.

Huxley was also found to have suffered two rib fractures prior to his hospital admission, which the judge said – on the weight of expert evidence – were not caused by CPR but rather by the forceful gripping and squeezing of his torso.

The court heard that two weeks after Huxley’s birth, a health visitor went to the family address and reinforced the dangers of shaking a baby.

Sayle had denied murder but his guilty plea to manslaughter was accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service, although he provided no account for how the injuries were caused.

The judge told Sayle: “You knew long ago that Huxley had suffered a catastrophic brain injury, and that his brain in consequence had been starved of oxygen and had slowly died. That was then confirmed by the post-mortem, only to be corroborated by the subsequent prosecution experts.

“You knew the risks of shaking a baby. You knew that you were the only one that could have shaken Huxley before his immediate collapse, and you knew that you did shake Huxley.

“You could have faced up to your guilt and indicated a plea to manslaughter even at the first appearance or at the plea and trial preparation hearing.”

Anne Whyte KC, prosecuting, told the court that Ms Sharples married Sayle while were both on bail during the investigation into their son’s death.

She said: “Neither he, she or their families have supported this prosecution.

“They are the closest in terms of family to Huxley.

“Highly unusually, and tragically, there are no victim personal statements reflecting the impact of Huxley’s death on anyone.”

Ms Whyte said Sayle had “persistently denied doing anything at all whether or not it caused any injuries”.

She said: “Still, today, at this point he has not condescended to explain himself. It is very difficult in those circumstances to accept any evidence or demonstration of remorse, let alone significant remorse.”

Mark Rhind KC, defending, told the court: “He is remorseful. The plea of guilt is an indication or remorse.

“He has pleaded guilty to the unlawful killing of his own son. That is not a nebulous thing. It is an admission.

“He has not claimed there has been some sort of accident or some rough handling.

“He accepts his actions on June 14 2022 amounted to an unlawful assault and it is implicit that assault must have been with some force to have caused injuries to Huxley.

“Peter Sayle is utterly devastated by the loss of his son and the fact he has admitted responsibility for it.

“Whatever happened must have happened in a moment of frustration, exasperation and in tiredness.”

Following sentencing, Det Ch Insp Andy Fallows, of Lancashire Constabulary’s major force investigation team, said: “Whilst we will never truly know what caused Sayle to do what he did, we do know what he chose to do after.

“Rather than admit to what he had done and show remorse for his actions, Peter Sayle sought to spin a web of lies and blame anyone but himself for baby Huxley’s death.”