Dad who shook baby found guilty of murder

BABY EVERLEIGH STROUD WAS LEFT WITH 'CATASTROHIC INJURIES' AFTER INCIDENT

- By STANLEY MURPHY-JOHNS

A FATHER has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years for killing his baby daughter by shaking her so hard he caused “catastrophic” brain injuries.

Thomas Holford, 25, had smoked at least five joints the day before he shook his five-week-old daughter Everleigh Stroud with such “excessive and severe” force she was left with brain and bone injuries.

Everleigh had been left alone in her father's care on the night of April 20 2021 and was “only just” breathing when her grandmother, Kelly Stroud, called an ambulance the next morning.

Holford was “under the influence” of cannabis at the time of the shaking, and later lied to police about his drug use having smoked at least five joints to celebrate “420” the previous day, which the court had heard he agreed was a “big day for cannabis smokers”.

While his baby was rushed to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, Kent, on April 21, he showed “little emotion” and continued to download and play games on his phone, jurors heard.

On Thursday, Holford, of Ramsgate, was found unanimously guilty of murder and actual bodily harm of his daughter by a Canterbury Crown Court jury.

On Friday, Mr Justice Michael Fordham sentenced Holford to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 16 years and told the court that he had “robbed” his former partner and her family of “any type of deep happiness” for the rest of their lives.