Dad lied about drug use on day baby was fatally hurt

KILLER CLAIMS FORGETFULNESS OVER EVENTS THAT LED TO DEATH

- By STANLEY MURPHY-JOHNS [e-mail] @ThanetGazette

A FATHER accused of murdering his baby daughter has admitted lying to police about his cannabis use the night before causing her “catastrophic” injuries, a court heard last week.

Thomas Holford, 24, has admitted manslaughter but denied murdering his daughter Everleigh Stroud.

Everleigh was just five weeks old when she suffered “excessive and severe” shaking which led to brain and bone injuries, which ultimately led to her death a year later.

She was rushed to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate after her grandmother reported she was “only just” breathing on the morning of April 20, 2021. Along with brain injuries which left her in a vegetative state, she was found to have suffered bone fractures, bruising to her face, atrophy to her eyes leading to her going blind, and injuries to her anus, after having spent the night before in her father’s care.

Everleigh, who was born on March 13, 2021, spent more than a year in a vegetative state before she died at 14 months on May 27, 2022.