Brute Jailed for Breaking Bones of Girlfriend’s 6-Month-Old Baby

22-year-old James Laidlaw is a thug who carried out a ‘shocking campaign of violence’ which left his girlfriend’s six-month-old son with 32 broken bones, Daily Mail reports. He has been jailed for 19 years.

Laidlaw had been in a relationship with girlfriend, 22-year-old Tiffany Hilton, since January last year; he allegedly attacked Hilton’s baby boy between February and May. A court heard the baby, who remains unnamed for legal reasons, was taken to a walk-in medical centre by Hilton with suspected bronchiolitis last year in May.

He was then referred to hospital where doctors found 32 non-accidental injuries including several broken ribs and a broken left arm and wrist. The baby, who was going to turn six-months-old was also diagnosed with a broken left leg and foot and a broken right thigh.

The court heard that a number of healed broken bones were found and some of the shocking injuries were three-months-old as at the time of diagnosis.

A jury at Warwick Crown Court took just two hours and 47 minutes to return the guilty verdict on Laidlaw of Coventry, West Midland; he was found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent and child cruelty and was recently sent to jail for 19 years.

His girlfriend, Hilton, was also imprisoned for three years after she was found guilty of causing or allowing harm to a child and child cruelty.

Judge Sylvia de Bertodano who had sentenced the couple said,

‘The breaks to the bones were caused by Mr Laidlaw, but it was Miss Hilton who brought Mr Laidlaw into the house and left him in charge of her son when she must have known he was at risk. He was only a few months old when he was subjected to this shocking campaign of violence.’

The judge concluded that Laidlaw was ‘prone to controlling and bullying behaviour’ and said the case was so serious that she could go beyond the guidelines of 16 years, adding that,

‘I do consider there is a significant risk of serious harm to anyone who is in a relationship with him and to any children who are in his care.’

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And to Hilton, the judge said,

‘Even when you must have realised he was physically harming not only you but one of them, you allowed him to stay and covered up for him by not telling Social Services of his presence.
This was serious long-term neglect and a failure to protect your son from serious cruelty.
A message has to go out that women who look after children are responsible, and if they remain passive in the face of such violent and persistent abuse of their children, they must go to prison.’

A nurse revealed that while he was in hospital the baby went ‘wide-eyed with fear’ whenever there was a loud noise or someone approached him. Simon Hunka in defending Hilton said,

‘She has low self-esteem and attracts men of violence, and is attracted to them. She is a loving mother in some respects, but an utterly incapable mother in others.’

Speaking after the case, Detective Constable Francesca Evatt, from West Midlands Police, said,

‘At no point in their police interviews did either Hilton or Laidlaw give any explanation of how the child had sustained the numerous injuries. This was a horrific case of prolonged child cruelty involving a small baby. Thankfully the boy, now aged two, continues to thrive in his new home.’