Wigan dad jailed for ‘brutally’ killing his baby daughter

A man from Wigan has been jailed for 12 years for the manslaughter of his 14-month-old daughter.

Hollie Ashurst died back in February last year. She had a number of injuries to the head, neck and legs.

Daniel Ashurst, who is 33 and from Shevington, initially claimed Hollie had fallen down a couple of stairs and started crying. He said he put her in the car to go to hospital but she had stopped breathing on the way so instead went to a GP surgery in Standish.

Hollie was then taken to hospital by paramedics, where she was assessed and found to have serious injuries and be in a life-threatening condition.

At hospital, Ashurst made a number of different claims about what had happened to Hollie. He was arrested on suspicion of wounding and was taken into police custody for questioning.

The following day, Hollie sadly died as a result of her injuries - despite the best efforts of specialist medical professionals.

Ashurst was subsequently further arrested on suspicion of murder and during questioning he answered ‘no comment’ to everything asked of him.

"Hollie was an innocent baby girl"

Ashurst was later charged with murder and pleaded not guilty. Following a three week trial, a jury found him not guilty of murder but convicted him of manslaughter.

Today, he was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court to 12 years in prison.

Senior Investigating Officer Duncan Thorpe of GMP’s Major Incident Support Unit said: “The death of a child is always heart breaking but this is a particularly heart wrenching case. Hollie was an innocent baby girl who was killed by her father who should have been providing care and protection.

“Hollie was found to have multiple internal and external injuries, which Ashurst was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for.

“Throughout our investigation and the trial, our thoughts have remained with Hollie’s mother and extended family. This has been an extremely difficult time for them so I hope today’s result brings them a sense of closure.

“Hollie will never be forgotten.”

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