Dad ‘murdered his two-month old daughter after she woke up crying in the middle of the night’
Tragic Daisy-Mae left with fractured skull and brain damage in a violent assault at the hands of John Burrill, 31, Preston Crown Court told
A FATHER murdered his two-month-old daughter after she woke up crying in the early hours of the morning, a court has been told.
John Burrill, 31, claimed he had thrown baby Daisy-Mae onto a sofa, which had hard objects on, and then ran upstairs with her due to "frustration at her continuous crying".
But a jury at Preston Crown Court heard the baby had suffered a fractured skull and brain damage which suggested she was the "victim of a violent assault" .
Andrew O'Byrne QC, prosecuting, said Burrill's then-partner Ashlee Cox, mother of Daisy-Mae, described him as "moody" when he got up to feed the two-month-old at about 5.30am on March 11.
Burrill, who was said to have been up with the baby before in the night, was described as saying "I've been up for hours, I'll get up" before taking Daisy-Mae downstairs in their terraced home in Fleetwood, Lancs.
Mr O'Byrne said Miss Cox heard Burrill trying to "shush" the baby downstairs and then heard the kitchen tap running. He said: "Then she became aware that the crying had suddenly stopped.
"She assumed, naturally, that the child had been given a feed and therefore stopped crying.
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"In fact, as we now know, Daisy-Mae had suffered a fracture to her skull which was to lead directly to her death three days later."
The court heard Burrill had returned to the bedroom holding Daisy-Mae on his upturned palms and told Miss Cox he thought something was wrong with the child, who was limp and floppy and had blue lips.
Miss Cox, who had smoked cannabis with Burrill the previous evening, said she could see the defendant was "stoned" and he told her he had had a joint.
Paramedics were called and tried to resuscitate the baby, who had gone into cardiac arrest, before taking her to Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
Daisy-Mae was later transferred to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital where a decision was made to turn off her life support machine on March 14.
Burrill, of Fleetwood, Lancs initially told medical staff and police Daisy-Mae became limp while downstairs and he could not explain why.
But the court heard Burrill had admitted causing the injuries which led to his daughter's death on the morning of his trial.
Mr O'Byrne said: "His account was he acted in frustration at Daisy-Mae's continuous crying and he says that his actions make him guilty of manslaughter."
The murder trial is expected to last until next week.
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