A mother and father accused of murdering their premature baby in a special care unit have told police they did not harm their son. The two-week-old infant suffered what prosecutors described as "catastrophic" injuries whilst on the ward at Yeovil District Hospital in Somerset.
Daniel Gunter, 27, and Sophie Staddon, 23, are both charged with murder and causing or allowing the death of baby Brendon Staddon on March 5 last year. The infant was born at 33 weeks' gestation and weighed 1.83kg at birth.
Parents' police interviews revealed
Bristol Crown Court heard on Wednesday how nurses discovered Brendon's injuries after Staddon told staff her son was cold and asked them to check on him. The baby suffered injuries to his head, neck, legs and jaw whilst in the special care baby unit.
Brendon was carried to the resuscitation area but did not respond to treatment and was pronounced dead at 4.59am. Jurors were read transcripts of police interviews conducted after the parents' arrest.
Mother describes finding baby cold
Staddon told police she had been woken in the night by Gunter telling her to inform nurses that Brendon was cold. She said: "I went to check him. I felt him. He was cold. I told the nurses. They turned the light on and saw he was blue."
"I started crying. Dan pulled me away and said 'let them do their job'. I was crying and really upset. Dan was also upset," she added. The couple initially waited inside before going out for fresh air, with police officers arresting them shortly afterwards.
"I would not have harmed him"
Staddon told officers: "I remember asking if they were telling me my baby was dead. I had done nothing to harm Brendon at all. I love him. He was my everything. I would not have harmed him."
After his arrest, Gunter was recorded as saying: "How can you say that we killed our baby?" and "That kid was my world, I would do anything for him." In his police statement, he described how Staddon had been sleeping in a bed whilst he was in a chair.
Father's account of final moments
Gunter told police he heard the baby do a "little cry" at about 3am and checked on him. "He was in his cot, on his back. He was white. We touched his skin and he was cold and white," he said.
"We didn't lift him out of the cot. We went to get the nurse. They came in and said he was not alright. This was the last time I saw my baby," Gunter added. He insisted: "At no stage did I do anything to Brendon that could have caused him any injury."
Post-mortem reveals extent of injuries
A post-mortem examination found Brendon died of "blunt force impact(s) head injury" with multiple non-accidental injuries to the head. Earlier in the trial, prosecutor Charles Row KC told jurors the baby was covered in bruises to his face, scalp, chest, abdomen, shoulder, hands, legs and feet.
"There was hardly a part of his body that was spared," Row said. The court heard that Gunter and Staddon had an on-off relationship, with allegations that he was violent towards her on occasion.
Social services involvement
In January 2024, a social worker visited the couple and told them that authorities were planning to remove the baby from their care when he was born. Both defendants, of no fixed address, deny charges of murder and causing or allowing Brendon's death.
The trial continues at Bristol Crown Court.
Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
