Mother jailed for 10 years after her boyfriend beat her 10-month-old son to death in horrific campaign of abuse

4 August 2023, 14:41 | Updated: 4 August 2023, 14:58

A mum has been jailed for 10 years after allowing an evil stepfather to murder 10-month-old Jacob Crouch in a six-month campaign of horrific abuse.

Jacob's mother Gemma Barton, 33, was found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child and a third count of child cruelty, for which she was imprisoned for 10 years.

Stepfather Craig Crouch, 39, was convicted of murder and three counts of child cruelty following a seven-week trial at Derby Crown Court and was given a life sentence with a minimum of 28 years for the horrific charges by Mr Justice Kerr.

Tragic Jacob was found dead in his cot on the morning of December 30 2020. He was found with 39 rib fractures, 19 bruises and several internal injuries.

At their sentencing today, Mr Justice Kerr said the relationship between the convicted was a "coercive or controlling" one.

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Barton was cleared of murder at trial, and an alternative charge of manslaughter, and two counts of child cruelty.

She could be eligible for release in under four years on licence after her year on remand in prison is taken into account.

Several of Jacob's family members were at the court to read impact statements - many many did so through tears.

At the beginning of the sentencing hearing, Mr Justice Kerr said: "Jacob was a happy, smiley, bubbly baby who never complained about the horrific treatment he was receiving.

"He had to put up with it, and he did, often with a smile. Even those who never knew Jacob personally will miss him. "It is nothing less than tragic that he will never become a boy, and then a man".

The judge said Crouch was "domineering, aggressive, boastful and arrogant" - behaviour Barton tolerated due to "misplaced affection".

Opening the case in June, prosecutor Mary Prior KC said: "Neither sought medical help for Jacob at any stage for the pain and suffering caused when his bones were broken or in the few days that followed."

She added: "Neither got Jacob out of what must have been a life with episodes of significant pain and suffering.

"Jacob was not given the care that as a baby he needed and deserved."

Mrs Prior said that Jacob died at his home in Foxley Chase, Linton, near Swadlincote, following a "vicious assault" which was the culmination of regular abuse within a "culture of cruelty".

Jacob suffered "repeated physical abuse" in the weeks, days and hours prior to his death and that it was "not remotely" possible that the injuries could have been self-inflicted, according to Dr Sarah Dixon, a consultant paediatrician.

They included a traumatic bowel perforation which led to a fatal infection, which forensic pathologist Dr Michael Biggs said could only have been sustained through blunt force trauma such as a punch, kick or stamp.