Norfolk father sentenced to 14 years in prison for the manslaughter of baby daughter
Christopher Easey, 31, was found guilty of the manslaughter of 14-week old Eleanor, last month
Last updated 29th Apr 2022
A Norfolk father has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for the manslaughter of baby daughter.
Christopher Easey, who's 31 and from Little Thetford, was found guilty of the manslaughter of 14-week old Eleanor, last month.
Eleanor's Mum Carley Easey, who's 36 and from Chedburgh, has been given a 12-month community order, with requirements to take part in a specified programme of activities after she was found guilty of child cruelty.
The sentence was given by Justice Murray at Norwich Crown Court before 2pm.
The judge told the Court he was "sure" Christopher Easey was the one who "inflicted all the serious injuries Eleanor suffered", which included 31 rib fractures.
He said Carly Easey, "didn't know her husband was injuring their baby and had done so on multiple occasions".
The judge said both parents had "at times given her diluted squash to drink instead of milk", and described it as "wholly inappropriate" that she was given a lick of a custard cream biscuit.
Going on to say that both parents had "abandoned" Eleanor "on at least one occasion for a significant time".
Elizabeth Marsh QC, mitigating for Carly Easey, said Eleanor "was killed through no action or inaction" by her mother.
"She feels extreme guilty for failing to protect her baby from the man who deceived her," she said.
Sally O'Neill QC, mitigating for Christopher Easey, said he will "carry to his grave... the knowledge what he did caused the injuries to his baby daughter".
At ten-week trial:
Both denied six counts against them which dated from September 12 to December 20, 2019, according to Norfolk Police.
During this time at Norwich Crown Court, jurors were told how Eleanor was taken to hospital on December 18 2019 after being found un-responsive at home.
They heard how tests showed that Eleanor had suffered bleeds to her brain on three separate occasions, the most recent being within 48 hours of her being admitted to hospital.
She was later transferred from hospital in Norwich to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where doctors confirmed she had suffered a catastrophic brain injury which she later died of on December 20, 2019 according to Home Office post-mortem.
Which concluded the injuries could have been caused by shaking or impact. While she along had multiple historical fractures and was also malnourished.
Roughly two months before her death, health visitors noticed bruising and scratches to Eleanor’s face in October, which Carly said were due to an ill-fitting car seat and the scratches were self-inflicted.
When asked by medics how Eleanor had sustained her later fatal injuries, Christopher Easey said he had been forced to brake suddenly with Eleanor in the car.
A police examination of the couple’s car didn’t find any evidence that it had been involved in a collision or a situation when the driver had forcibly applied the brakes.
In her interview, Carly Easey could not account for Eleanor’s injuries other than the bruising to Eleanor’s face.
Evidence showed she wasn't present at the fatal injury and prosecutors subsequently dropped the murder charge against her.
"She deserved so much better"
Detective Inspector Lewis Craske, who led the investigation on behalf of the Norfolk and Suffolk major investigation team, said: “My thoughts today, as they have been throughout this investigation and will always be, are with little Eleanor.
“She was only 14 weeks old when she died yet had 31 fractures to her fragile body and three separate bleeds on her brain.
“Eleanor’s parents, the very people who should have protected and loved her above everything and everyone else, failed her on an unimaginable scale from the moment she was born.
“She was neglected for much, if not all, of her short life. She deserved so much better. This has been a desperately sad, incredibly complex and highly emotive investigation for me and all those who have worked so very hard on bringing this case to court.”