A lying boyfriend who killed his partner's young child by banging his head off a kitchen floor has been found guilty of murder.
Jonathan Simpson was minding 22-month-old Jacob Marshall while the toddler's mum Emma Marshall went out for a haircut.
Simpson inflicted a brutal ordeal on the tot including a "catastrophic brain injury" with injuries similar to those more commonly seen a "high velocity car crash", the Liverpool Echo reports.
A neighbour found the boy unresponsive at his home in Speke.
But callous Simpson had not even called an ambulance.
Instead he gave "several different explanations" - first claiming the tot fell off a couch.
He later said "I dropped a baby down the stairs", and finally suggesting the toddler fell down the stairs.
Simpson admitted that he lied initially because it would look like "bad parenting" to say he left him unsupervised.
Prosecutors claim that the 25-year-old had seen red and banged the tot's head hard on the kitchen floor.
He denied ever hurting the child but a jury unanimously found him guilty of murder today following a 12-day trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
Little Jacob's family sobbed in the public gallery while Simpson showed no emotion.
He is due to be sentenced today (WEDS).
The court had heard that mum Emma had left Jacob in his pyjamas with a fresh nappy and bottle of juice, at around 3pm on Friday, July 12, 2019.
Jacob once previously tumbled down the stairs that April, when his mum took him to hospital and he only had "a little bump on his head" and a graze.
Simpson had always been "loving and affectionate" towards her, Jacob, and her oldest son, now six she said and had 'no concerns' when he offered to mind him.
But panic set in when she was called to say Jacob had fallen and an ambulance was coming.
She rushed to Whiston hospital and was told her beloved son was critically ill.
The family didn't believe Simpson's explanation.
The court heard Jacob's aunt Kelly Martyn told him: "If I find out you've put a f***ing finger on that boy, I will kill you."
Outside a waiting room, Miss Marshall said Simpson hugged her and said: "You can't let this ruin us, you can't let what they're saying turn you against me."
She said: "I just looked at him and I said 'you were supposed to be looking after him'. His response was 'I know' - that's all he said.
"I said 'you need to go' and stuff and he was walking off saying 'I love you, I love you'."
Neighbour Stephen Forster told the jury Simpson came out of the house at around 3.40pm and asked if he could do CPR.
He found Jacob lying on a kitchen rug, unresponsive and breathing "slightly", with a "massive lump" on his forehead.
Mr Forster recalled asking "how long is the ambulance going to be?" and Simpson replying: "Oh I haven't rung one yet."
Instead the brute played down his injuries when he finally did call and went out to the garden to smoke.
Mr Forster said: "He said 'I was just having a ciggy because of my nerves'. I said 'you can't leave the phone, you don't know what they're asking'.
"Then he said the phone had died and he needed to charge it in the living room."
Paramedics arrived at 4.10pm and were concerned by Simpson's account and unexplained bruises to Jacob's head, stomach, groin, arms, shins and feet.
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Doctors were also "suspicious" about bruising to the child's penis and two bruises to his left inner ear.
A CT scan revealed a subdural haemorrhage - blood compressing his brain - and retinal haemorrhages involving extensive bleeds in both eyes.
Jacob, died from his head injury late on Saturday, July 13.
A Home Office pathologist told the jury that Jacob's multiple injuries were "highly suspicious of fatal child abuse".
Dr Jonathan Medcalf said falls down stairs "very rarely" resulted in death and it was "very unusual" for injuries to be so widespread.
The expert said he would have expected to see carpet burns and didn't believe Simpson's account "adequately explains the findings".
Gordon Cole, QC, defending, asked if he could "rule out 100% a fall down the stairs."
Dr Medcalf said: "I cannot rule it out as part of the fatal incident, a fall or a push or a throw down the stairs for example."
Simpson - who has a son from a past relationship - has six previous convictions from 2012 to 2016, including assault causing actual bodily harm and five offences of battery.
He said after Emma went out, he left Jacob in the living room, rolled a cigarette and smoked it by the back door, when he heard a "metallic bang".
He told jurors he found Jacob unresponsive at the bottom of the stairs, with his right foot stuck in an open stair gate, and "panicked".
Simpson said he went to get help, then carried Jacob to the kitchen because his phone was on charge there and he needed it to call an ambulance.
He denied going out for a cigarette during the 999 call and said the phone cut off, so he moved to get a better signal.
Simpson said his guilt over 'leaving a baby on his own' had led him to lying about the sofa fall as it would look like "bad parenting" to say he let him fall down the stairs.
Under cross-examination by John Benson, QC, prosecuting, Simpson denied that Jacob was injured at around 3.15pm, but he "delayed" getting help for some 30 minutes.
He said Jacob was walking around looking for his mum when she left, but denied he became upset and wouldn't stop crying.
Simpson denied that Jacob was actually hurt in the kitchen and that he pinched his penis as a "nasty reaction" to him crying when changing his nappy and hit him in the ear.
Mr Benson said: "Did you shake Jacob and bang his head hard on that kitchen floor?" "No," Simpson said.
"You did, didn't you." Simpson replied: "No."
Asked why he told paramedics Jacob cried for two minutes before becoming unresponsive, he said: "Dunno."
Mr Benson said: "Or was he crying for two minutes after you banged his head?" "No," Simpson said.
The prosecutor continued: "...before the injury overwhelmed him. Is that what happened Mr Simpson?"
"No, that's not what happened," Simpson replied.
Simpson also rejected the suggestion that he planted a teddy bear by the sofa to make his initial lie more "credible".
He handed himself in at Winsford Police Station at around 8.45pm on July 13, when he said to a special constable: "I've been good for three years, now I've gone and dropped a baby down the stairs."
Mr Benson said Simpson's reaction to being arrest on suspicion of murder was: "F***ing stupid, pathetic."
He tried to blame Emma for his injuries in a text to cops.
Judge Menary thanked the jury.
He said: "It's one of the most difficult cases that this or any court will have to deal with. These are horrible cases and the court as you heard now will proceed to sentence tomorrow.
"These sort of cases will take an intellectual and emotional toll on you all. There are facilities available for people to speak to if you wish to do that."
