'Rare' for baby's injuries to be accidental

A doctor has told a jury it is "extremely rare" for the type of leg and rib injuries seen on a five-week-old baby who was allegedly murdered by her father to be accidental.

Thomas Holford, 24, is accused of murdering Everleigh Stroud, who was rushed to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) Hospital in Margate, Kent, on 21 April 2021.

Everleigh was having seizures, had a bleed on the brain and a number of other injuries. She died in hospital, aged 14 months, on 27 May the following year, Canterbury Crown Court was told.

Holford, of Ramsgate, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in November but denies murder and causing actual bodily harm.

Dr Jeremy Jones, a paediatric radiologist, said it would require "significant or extreme force" to cause the leg fractures seen on Everleigh, and that they could not happen in normal or rough play-handling of a baby.

When asked how physically shaking a baby could cause the leg injuries, Dr Jones said: "If shaken by their chest their limbs can flail uncontrollably.

"The flicking of a foot on the end of a leg while being shaken can result in the force required to cause this type of fracture."

Both prosecution and defence accepted the injuries were caused by shaking.

In evidence read to the court from Professor Safa Al-Sarraj, a consultant neuropathologist, he said an MRI scan showed damage "consistent with non-accidental (abusive) traumatic brain injuries".

He also said the "force appears to be severe enough to cause apnoea - or stoppage of breathing".

The trial continues.

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