Christopher Easey on trial for murder of baby daughter

A father murdered his three-month-old daughter, who sustained "an appalling catalogue of inflicted injuries", a court has heard.

Christopher Easey, 31, told a 999 call handler Eleanor was "struggling to breathe" at their home in December 2019, Norwich Crown Court heard.

She died in hospital two days later having suffered a brain injury "incompatible with life".

Mr Easey, of Terrington St Clement, Norfolk, denies murder.

Eleanor's mother, Carley Easey, 36, of the same address in Old Roman Bank, is charged with causing or allowing the death of a child.

They are both charged with cruelty to a child.

Prosecutor Sally Howes QC said an ambulance crew arrived "within minutes" to the family home at Morton on the Hill, near Lenwade, on 18 December and found Eleanor to be "very pale, floppy, eyes half-open".

"This baby died as a result of an inflicted, non-accidental injury," she said, adding that examinations indicated "some form of shaking with an impact to the head".

Post-mortem examinations "demonstrated older head and neurological injuries", 31 rib fractures and five sites of fracture on her limbs, jurors were told.

Ms Howes said Eleanor sustained "not only this appalling catalogue of inflicted injuries but was described... as being a poorly-nourished infant".

She said Eleanor had been "dangerously inappropriately fed".

The court heard the couple met on dating site Muddy Matches, "used extensively by the farming and rural community", in 2016, when he was a pig stockman and she was a yard assistant at a stables.

Mrs Easey had a miscarriage in 2018 and when she became pregnant again was "unwilling to acknowledge her condition and appeared to be in denial", Ms Howes said.

Eleanor was born in hospital on 12 September 2019, with Mr Easey taking his wife there.

She said the case was referred to safeguarding as a "concealed pregnancy", adding: "A concealed pregnancy is when a woman knows or suspects she is pregnant but doesn't inform any health professional."

Ms Howes said Mrs Easey "appeared to be anxious about change with the demands of being a parent", while her husband was "somewhat delusional, telling one midwife he was a vet and comparing his job to hers," Ms Howes said.

The trial continues.

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