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.
The judge said: “Overnight on 20th to 21st of April 2021 when you were just 20 years old you shook your five-week-old baby daughter Everleigh.
“That act of shaking caused severe and irreversible brain injuries, she died 13 months later as a result of those injuries.
“The jury were sure that at the moment of shaking Everleigh you intended to cause her really serious injury.”
Along with brain injuries, Everleigh also had bone fractures, bruising to her face, atrophy to her eyes leading to her going blind, having spent the night before in her father’s care, the court heard.
Everleigh, who was born on March 13 2021, spent more than a year in hospital before she died aged 14 months on May 27 2022.
Mr Justice Fordham continued: “Kelly Stroud has described in her statement the impacts of what you did, how your actions denied Everleigh a life, how your actions denied a lifetime of hopes and dreams to Casey, a wonderful young mum who never gave up fighting for her daughter.”
He added: “Your actions robbed the Stroud family of any type of deep happiness leaving a grief on all members of the family for the rest of their lives.”
While giving evidence, Holford told jurors he had at least five joints on April 20 2021, before being left in charge of Everleigh that evening.
“You were under the influence of cannabis when you injured Everleigh, I am sure that is right,” said Mr Justice Fordham.
When police arrived at his address in Wallwood Road, Ramsgate, where Holford, then 20, lived with his then 16-year-old girlfriend and her parents, they discovered a cannabis grinder and joint butts next to a milk bottle in his bedroom.
A witness statement written by Everleigh’s grandmother, Ms Stroud, and summarised in court heard how hard it had been to face her death.
“The shock was something that they have not experienced before, albeit they had a short period of denial and desperately searched for answers,” said prosecutor Eloise Marshall KC.
The statement read: “In a blink of an eye our world came crashing down in the most heartbreaking and traumatic way.”
Holford also received a two-year concurrent prison sentence for actual bodily harm of Everleigh’s anus which happened the same night.
In the sentencing hearing, Ms Marshall said: “The actual bodily harm undermines any suggestion that this was one single act born of one motivation and the motivation was described by the defence as perhaps frustration or flash of anger.
“We say that suggestion is undermined by the actual bodily harm.”
During the trial Holford also admitted he had “manipulated” his girlfriend’s family into taking care of his cannabis for him and allowing him to smoke it.
While in the witness box, he often answered questions to the effect of being unsure or not remembering what had happened the night he attacked Everleigh.
“The jury were sure that whatever your memory then or now you shook her meaning to cause really serious injury,” said Mr Justice Fordham.
Text messages shown to jurors also suggest that he tried to buy weed from a contact known as “Milo” because he knew he was looking after his daughter.
He sent a text which read: “Could you strap me anything, as I’ve got the little one on my own tonight. Going to be f****** stressful.”
Holford will serve at least 16 years of his life sentence in prison before he is eligible to be released, minus the 351 days already served.
