Newborn Baby Battered To Death By Violent Dad

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A 16-day-old baby girl from Manchester, U.K, was battered to death by her violent father, just a day after healthcare officials and social workers downgraded their involvement with the family.

Baby Florence Liberty Mae Higham’s parents were known by social services, however, they were visited by officials and told that they were reducing their association with them due to a “decreased level of concern”.

Just a day after the visit, Florence, was brutally battered by her father Matthew Higham, with the baby suffering extensive injuries that included multiple skull and rib fractures, facial injuries as well as brain damage.

An inquest heard that her abusive Dad, who is now serving life for murder, had already had another child removed from his care in connection with his drug and alcohol abuse and chastising.

Little Florence passed away on July 29, 2015, with her mum Sharon Collins, having been away visiting a sick friend in the hospital. She later found that she had 22 missed calls from her partner.

It came out that Higham had earlier collected Florence from her grandparents’ house and taken her back to his hom.  A few hours later he dialled 999, saying the baby was “bleeding out of her nose, mouth and ears” after she started fitting as he fed her milk from a bottle.

When Paramedics arrived, they noticed Florence had several injuries, including bruising to her head and face. The little girl eventually died at Stepping Hill Hospital despite numerous attempts to revive her.

Police also found that Higham had tried to clean the bloodied home before the emergency services arrived.

Collins, who had previously split from Higham due to violence in the relationship, said that the man had favoured the couple’s first child.

She said: “With the first child, he was very good, he had safe hands but with Florence he didn’t feed her, her bottle and didn’t go near her because if he did my first child would scream the house down.” 

 She added“He made a comment about him favouring the first child over Florence. I was obviously quite shocked – but I was assured that was all completely normal.”

Higham had initially denied killing his “perfect baby”, but later admitted murder while at Preston Crown Court in January last year.Now he says he can’t remember carrying out the fatal attack.

At his trial the judge Mr Justice Tim Kerr said :

“It was a crime of such unspeakable violence it is difficult to understand how any human being could do such a thing. You say you do not remember doing it. Whether or not that is true, by your plea of guilty to the murder of your baby daughter you have accepted, very late, that you inflicted those injuries on her with the intention of killing her or doing her really serious harm.”