Dad, 26, killed seven-week-old baby by shaking him ‘with force of car accident’
A STONER dad killed his seven-week-old baby by shaking him with force similar to a car crash, a court heard.
Oliver Mailey, 26, originally claimed he found Abel-Jax lifeless in his cot before admitting he had shaken him.
New-born Abel suffered catastrophic brain damage, severe bleeding and tearing injuries in his eyes within an hour of mum Mollie Gorton leaving for work.
Phone records show Mailey was arranging to buy cannabis on the morning his son was killed in November.
Both parents were regular users despite having little money in the house. Mollie says she was trying to cut down but Mailey was unable to, prosecutor Timothy Cray said.
Tensions between the couple had also got so bad before Abel was born that Mailey moved out for a few months.
The problems remained after they reconciled and Miss Gorton said their relationship continued to go downhill.
And he repeatedly challenged her over whether he was actually the dad because he knew he had a low sperm count.
But Miss Gorton believed Mailey loved the baby and was willing to do his share of the parenting.
Mailey pleaded guilty to manslaughter but prosecutors accused him of intending to seriously harm the baby in his murder trial.
Prosecutor Timothy Cray told Preston crown court that doctors agreed the baby’s injuries were consistent with “foreceful and deliberate shaking”.
Evidence was also found of old, healing incidents to Abel’s brain which suggested there had been previous shaking, Mr Cray said.
And experts found evidence of healing fractures on his ribs from between four and ten days of his death.
Mr Cray explained that these injuries are not caused accidentally and said could only otherwise happen in a situation such as a “car accident or fall from a multi-storey building”.
Mailey first claimed that the baby went limp while he was feeding his bottle. On a 999 call, he said he had no idea what happened but that “he’s gone right limp, he’s gone weird”.
The prosecution explained that there were no signs of neglect in the house, which was clean and with family photographs on display, and it appeared that Abel was a very loved, well cared for child.
There was no way of expecting something so horrific could happen when Miss Gorton left for work, Mr Cray said, but “given what was found out after Abel’s death, Mollie was mistaken about the defendant’s true feelings for Abel”.
During a routine visit, a health visitor identified no cause for concern but specifically explained the dangers of shaking a baby.
During Abel-Jax’s short life, concerns were noted by Miss Gorton’s godmother, Charlene Hay, who called at the house when Mailey was looking after the baby alone.
She noticed Abel-Jax screaming with particular distress and was concerned about what appeared to be a fresh bruise developing on his ear. She considered what she noticed such an issue that she told Ms Gorton and made a note on her calendar, the court heard.
Mailey, of Bowness Road, Burnley, was questioned by Miss Gorton over whether he had shaken the baby after he was rushed to hospital but repeatedly denied it.
Once medical examinations were completed, he was eventually arrested in July 2022 but gave no comment in interview.
Mailey, who sat in the dock wearing a black Nike T-shirt and blue jeans sporting a beard and top knot, denies murder.
The trial continues.