The father of a seven-week-old baby boy has been found guilty of his murder.
Following a nine-day trial at Preston Crown Court, on Tuesday (January 24), a jury found Oliver Mailey guilty of unlawfully killing Abel-Jax Mailey by a majority verdict.
During proceedings, the court was told how Mailey, 26, had shaken the tot between three and five times on the morning of November 28, 2021, out of frustration due to Abel-Jax’s crying.
The force was described as akin to falling from a multi-storey building or being in a car accident, causing catastrophic brain injuries.
It was not the first time this had happened though, as a post-mortem found that some four to 10 days previously, the baby had sustained other injuries, including a bleed on the brain, which was discovered through healing scar tissue, and broken ribs.
Abel-Jax died at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital on November 30.
Mailey, formerly of Piccadily Road, Burnley, was arrested on suspicion of his murder and originally denied any wrongdoing, trying to push the blame onto his partner and mother of the child, Mollie Gorton.
At one point he even seemed to suggest one of Mollie’s other children could have been capable of causing Abel-Jax’s injuries.
He was re-arrested and charged in July last year and in December admitted to manslaughter, but denied he intended to unlawfully hurt or injure his baby son.
He eventually admitted to causing Abel-Jax’s injuries on the previous occasion, but did not think anything had happened to the child as he had stopped crying and didn’t appear hurt.
However, around three days before his death, Abel-Jax’s cry had changed, from what Mailey described as a normal cry to a “wincing” or “hurting” cry.
Abel-Jax’s parents put this down to the child being constipated or having wind, but that was far from the truth and was a result of Mailey’s first assault on the child.
On Tuesday, after failing to reach a unanimous verdict, Mr Justice Cotter told the jury he would accept a majority verdict.
The jury found Mailey guilty by a majority of 11 to one.
He will be sentenced to life imprisonment at Preston Crown Court on Wednesday.
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