A murderer who shook his newborn daughter ‘like a ragdoll’ has been sentenced to life in prison. What he did after he abused the tragic tot left investigators sickened
A father, who has been found guilty of murdering his five-week-old baby daughter by violently shaking her to death, left investigators reeling with his chilling reaction.
Thomas Holford, 25, from Ramsgate, admitted the manslaughter of his daughter Everleigh Stroud but told the court he could not remember what happened the night she suffered severe injuries. But this wasn’t the only thing that angered the police.
Everleigh was rushed to hospital in Margate on the morning of April 21, 2021, after her grandmother rang emergency services and said she was “only just” breathing. She died when her life support machine was turned off a year after the attack, which left her with severe injuries to her brain, ribs and legs.
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On Thursday July 3, Holford, of Ramsgate, was found unanimously guilty of murder and actual bodily harm of his daughter by a Canterbury Crown Court jury. Today he has been handed a life sentence, with a minumum term of 16 years.
Along with brain injuries that left her in a vegetative state, she also had bone fractures and bruising to her face, the court heard. 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.
Not only did Holford show “little emotion” but he also continued to download and play games on his phone when police arrived at the scene, according to BBC News. And when police asked him about his cannabis use, he initially lied about smoking cannabis that night.
But while giving evidence, he told jurors he had at least five joints on the night before Everleigh was taken to hospital. When asked by prosecution barrister Eloise Marshall KC why he had lied about his cannabis use, he said: “I’m trying to project an image of something that is better than reality.”
At the time of the attack, Holford was living with his then 16-year-old girlfriend and was babysitting his daughter but says he has no memory of the incident.
The jury at Canterbury Crown Court found him guilty of murder and causing actual bodily harm, sentencing him to X years in prison. During the trial, defence barrister Jo Martin KC said that Holford showed no planning, premeditation or motive before killing his daughter.
She said: “This cack-handed, cannabis-fuelled young man would try everything he would normally do to work out why she was crying and then he would move on to stopping that crying.”
But Ms Marshall told the court that Holford “would have known he would have caused that child really serious harm” by shaking her with “extreme force”.
Det Insp Ross Gurden said: “Through the investigation, Thomas Holford has failed to tell the truth and accept responsibility for his actions. He will now be facing a long custodial sentence.”
An NSPCC spokesperson said: “Holford’s brutal attack on his baby daughter destroyed her life and ultimately caused her death. Our thoughts are with all those who loved and cared for Everleigh during her short life – the majority of which was spent on life support following the assault by her father.”
Will Bodiam, from the CPS, said Holford showed “no emotion” after his daughter was rushed to intensive care, and instead continued to download games on his phone, “even asking one of the police officers to help him choose a game. Holford’s actions left his daughter in unimaginable pain for the next year before her death.”
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