A two-week-old baby who was “brutally murdered” by his father was “failed in life”, the officer who led the investigation has said.
Brendon Staddon suffered catastrophic injuries at the hands of his father, Daniel Gunter, 27, just weeks after he was born, with multiple broken limbs and his skull crushed.
Speaking with the PA news agency, Chief Inspector Nadine Partridge, of the major crime investigation team at Avon and Somerset Police, said Brendon had been failed in life and “the only way not to fail him in death is to get justice for what’s happened to him”.
She described Brendon’s mother, Sophie Staddon, 21, who was cleared of causing or allowing the death of a child, as a “vulnerable young girl” who was controlled by Gunter.
Brendon, who was born prematurely at 33 weeks, was found in his hospital cot at the Yeovil District Hospital in Somerset on March 5 last year.
While doctors attempted to resuscitate him, Brendon’s parents went outside for a cigarette.
“Brendon Staddon was born at just 33 weeks’ gestation at Yeovil District Hospital,” Ms Partridge said.
“He lived only two short weeks when he was brutally murdered by his dad, Daniel Gunter, in the hospital. The injuries he sustained were catastrophic.
“He had a shattered skull, he had a broken neck, multiple broken limbs and extensive bruising to his limbs and torso.”
She added: “The extensive injuries caused are something I’ve never seen before in my 22 years as a detective.
“The brutality of the murder – and to such a young, vulnerable, tiny baby – is not something, thankfully, that happens all too often.”
She described Gunter as “very quick to anger”, and controlling and coercive towards his partner.
Multiple people have spoken of how he would become violent when frustrated, throwing things.
After the birth of his son, Gunter would “blatantly ignore” the advice of medical staff, causing Brendon distress by jiggling and poking him.
“Despite multiple times being told this, he ignored it, thinking that he knew best,” Ms Partridge said.
“He would dictate what (Staddon) ate, when she smoked, who she spoke to, where she stayed.
“After Brendon was born, social services offered Sophie a placement in a mother and baby unit and, as such, Daniel would not be welcome there and would lose control over Sophie and Brendon. She refused to take up that support.”
The officer said the parents had shown little emotion during the trial, but Staddon was visibly distressed when she alerted nursing staff at the hospital that Brendon was cold.
“She was quite visibly upset at that point, bent over hysterically crying in the cot space next to where Brendon lay,” she said.
“He was swiftly taken into the resuscitation room, and after a few minutes, both of them left the unit to go outside.
“We can see that on arrest, on the bodyworn footage, that Sophie is quite visibly upset, and she’s crying about her baby being dead.”
Ms Partridge thanked the medical staff at the hospital for their work.
“They did everything they could to save Brendon.
“Unfortunately, his injuries were too severe, and the small comfort I can take is that he wouldn’t have suffered for long.
“My thoughts are that Brendon was failed in life, and the only way not to fail him in death is to get justice for what’s happened to him.”
A child safeguarding and practice review will be held to examine whether there were any missed opportunities to save Brendon and to identify lessons that can be learned.
