Former professional footballer convicted after attacking two-year-old in Essex

A former professional footballer has been convicted of violently assaulting a two-year-old girl in Essex, leaving her with life-changing brain injuries.

Kiernan Hughes-Mason was charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and child cruelty after the girl was found with serious injuries at an address in Westcliff-on-Sea in January 2020.

He played for Arsenal, Spurs and Millwall as a youth player, before moving on to other clubs as a senior.

Until his conviction yesterday, Hughes-Mason was manager of Enfield Borough.

The club's issued a statement saying it has now sacked him - and that this information was not revealed when he was hired this year.

During the case the prosecution barrister referred to one doctor’s assessment of the child’s injuries as comparable to ‘a high-speed road traffic accident’ or ‘a fall from a substantial height of several storeys’.

He will be sentenced on Tuesday 10 September at Basildon Crown Court.

On 31 January 2020 Kiernan Hughes-Mason called paramedics while responsible for his ex-partner’s two-year-old daughter.

While downstairs he claimed he heard a loud bang from her bedroom and believed when he entered the room she had fallen on a dollhouse, leaving her conscious but unresponsive.

The East of England Ambulance Service arrived within nine minutes of the call and rushed the child to Southend General Hospital.

Her injuries were so severe she was placed in an induced coma and taken to Great Ormond Street Hospital for further treatment.

Doctors identified 17 different injuries to her legs, back face and chest, believed to have occurred between October 2019 and the assault in January 2020, when she was taken to hospital.

She remained in a coma for 14 days and suffered life-changing brain injuries which means she needs 24-hour care.

Hughes-Mason, 28 at the time of the incident, of Ramuz Drive, Westcliff-on-Sea, was arrested on 14 February 2020 in connection with the incident.

He was released on bail while officers collected more than a dozen statements and reports from eight medical practitioners and experts while building this case, as well as seizing Hughes-Mason phone and analysing the messages he sent.

In the days leading up to the incident, Hughes-Mason sent multiple messages to others stating how angry caring for his partner’s two-year-old daughter made him, saying ‘she’s actually getting on my nerves’, and ‘I’m gonna hit her’.

After almost three years' work, the Crown Prosecution service agreed to charge Hughes-Mason with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and child cruelty.

A three-week trial at Basildon Crown Court began on 5 August, and on Wednesday 21 August, after five hours of deliberation, the jury found Hughes-Mason guilty of both charges.

'The defendant inflicted these injuries deliberately'

The prosecution barrister made a damning case of Hughes-Mason’s actions as they closed their case, saying:

“The experts are all unanimously of the view that the child’s devastating head and brain injuries could not have been caused accidentally while she was alone in her room.

“Hughes-Mason was keen from the outset to portray himself to the police as the doting stepfather who treated the children as his own, saying how much he loved them.

“Yet in his text messages written at the time, he constantly referred to them as ‘your children,’ or ‘your child’ to the child’s mother. He regularly belittled them, talked about them as if they were stupid and put them down.

“In respect of the head and brain injury that the child suffered… the experts all agree that the pattern of injuries found is consistent with the child having been vigorously shaken… with her head likely being hit against a hard surface.

“The only explanation for the pattern of injuries suffered by the child was that they were inflicted by this defendant and inflicted deliberately.”

'He has been held accountable for what he did'

The family of the victim said after the hearing: “We finally have a verdict and that man is now held accountable for what he did to our little girl.

“We have had to go through what no family should ever have to experience, and our girl is going to bear the consequences of what he has done to her for the rest of her life”.

After the conviction Detective Sergeant Ellie Nudd, of the Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: “Hughes-Mason refused to admit what he had done and subject the family of this little girl to weeks of details of the injuries he allowed or inflicted.

“Her family have attended court and have shown nothing but dignity and strength. I cannot commend their conduct throughout this trial highly enough while they live the impact of his actions.

“I’d also like to thank all the officers across the Child abuse Investigation Team who was involved in this case, this was a challenging and complex investigation with multiple officers and detectives working tirelessly over the last four years to make sure this case was as strong as possible.

“This conviction is important. Hughes-Mason denied responsibility for all of the child’s injuries, pointing the finger at others or blaming them on accidents. This little girl will never recover from the injuries she sustained from this violent attack.

“The doctor’s were clear about the extent of the injuries – they were equivalent to a high-speed crash, and would have to be the result of a violent assault.

“We now await his sentencing.”