A teenage father who was said to have "lost his temper" with his three-month-old baby has been jailed for causing his son's death.
Stephen Coukham initially denied murdering his son Tyrone, but later admitted he was responsible for the death, on July 21, 2010.
Coukham, then 18, was living with his partner – the baby's mother, Kerry Marriott – at a flat in Truro when he took Tyrone into the bedroom to change him. Minutes later, he raised the alarm when the baby stopped breathing. Tyrone died later that day in hospital.
Medics said the baby suffered a "devastating, unsurvivable head injury, which had the features of or suggestive on non-accidental head injury".
Mrs Justice Sharp jailed Coukham, now 21, for three years and eight months at Truro Crown Court yesterday after his plea of manslaughter was accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service.
She said: "The precise sequence of events that led to Tyrone's death will never be known. But you lost your temper because he was crying or wouldn't stop crying.
"Then in a fit of temper you shook him hard, or threw him down on a soft surface – actions that were likely to cause him harm."
Martin Meeke QC, prosecuting, described how two of Coukham's next door neighbours were visiting the defendant, his partner and their son when Coukham took Tyrone into the bedroom to change him.
Mr Meeke said one of the friends, Jack Smith, could hear Tyrone crying as Coukham took the baby into the bedroom.
Mr Meeke said: "Jack Smith said he could hear Coukham comforting him (the baby). Then Tyrone suddenly stopped crying and within two minutes Coukham came out, asking for Kerry and saying the baby had stopped breathing.
"Kerry called the ambulance at 3.25pm; within five minutes the ambulance was at the flat. (The medic) found Tyrone on the bed, but with no pulse."
The court heard Coukham later gave differing accounts of what happened, claiming he had picked his child up only for him to slip from his hands – at first saying this was into his basket, and then later saying it was onto the bed.
He also gave conflicting accounts of when the baby had been sick, and even said he had thrown Tyrone into the air and caught him in an attempt to revive his son. Police later said the size of Coukham's two-room flat would have meant this was impossible to do, and refuted Coukham's explanation.
Medics said shaking was the most likely cause of death, but also said there were other internal injuries which may have been caused before the day Tyrone died.
A health worker who visited the family said she witnessed Coukham "rough handling" the baby, pulling him up by his arms as a two-week-old. But GPs and health professionals said they had no cause for concern over the baby's treatment.
Friends also described Coukham as a "loving, hands-on" father.
Simon Laws QC, defending, said there was no intention to cause the baby serious harm.
He said: "This is not a case of an unwanted baby that was habitually neglected or deliberately maltreated. Far from it.
"(Coukham) had a genuinely close bond with his baby."
He said how Coukham was "a young 21", described by Tyrone's maternal grandmother as "just a kid himself".
Mrs Justice Sharp said she was confident Coukham was "a caring parent", and that he did not intend to cause serious harm to his son.
But she added: "This crime is, in a real sense, a tragedy for all concerned. For Tyrone, whose life was cut short so young, for Kerry and Tyrone's wider family, but also for you because you will have to live with the knowledge of what you did for the rest of your life."
The former sports shop worker, dressed in a dark suit, showed no emotion as he was jailed.
The investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Andy Warne , said afterwards: "This was a violent act committed against a defenceless ten-week-old baby who sustained terrible injuries at the hands of the very person who should have been caring for him."
