Dad facing jail for killing baby

1:42pm Thursday 28th August 2008

A dad is facing jail after being convicted of killing his 18-month-old daughter on the first night he was trusted to be left alone with her.

Mark Howe, 36, was high on drink and cannabis while the toddler's mother was at a Christmas meal when he either kicked or punched the girl with such force he tore open her intestines.

The little girl could have survived, but Howe did not mention what had happened and an ambulance was not called for 24 hours.

When the girl's mother rang the emergency services after finding the girl “limp and lifeless” Howe snatched the child and drove off ending up St George's Hospital, miles away.

He sat in the car with his daughter and by the time she was admitted it was too late to help her.

The couple's first child was stillborn and the mother was so worried about the girl she had not dared to leave her alone before the night she died.

Howe initially told police he could not recall the toddler being injured, but then said she might have fallen off her bed.

In court he came up with a third account and told how the girl died in a bizarre accident.

He said he stumbled over a coffee table and tumbled into the girl but medical experts stated it was impossible for the injury to have been caused accidentally.

He was convicted of manslaughter today by a majority of 10 to two, by a jury of six men six women, after 12 and a half hours of deliberations at the Old Bailey.

Howe had faced a retrial after jurors could not reach verdicts in November, but on that occasion he was convicted of causing cruelty to a child for not seeking medical help.

During that case Judge Jeremy Roberts cleared Howe of murder because of insufficient evidence and directed the jury to return not guilty verdicts.

Howe shook his head repeatedly as the verdict was announced.

He will be sentenced next month after reports have been prepared.

Judge Richard Hone QC said: “A significant custodial sentence is unavoidable, the question in how long.”

It also emerged after the verdict that Howe has convictions for a sexual offence when he was 15, handling stolen goods and possession of cannabis.

During the trial Howe wept in the dock as the court heard how the mother was protective of the little girl after the tragedy of her first child.

The mother was so worried she had to be reassured by relatives before she would even leave the flat in Wallington for the Christmas meal on December 22, 2006.

She made a series of calls to Howe during the evening who told her the baby was fine.

But at some point he flew into a rage with the little girl after drinking and smoking powerful skunk weed and inflicted the terrible injury to her abdomen.

A post mortem revealed baby J had suffered a split in the duodenum - a part of the small intestine - which had caused a leak from her stomach and triggered the onset of peritonitis.

Howe, who served nine months on remand ahead of his first trial, will be sentenced on September 26.

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