An evil dad murdered his 11-year-old son in a brutal attack before lying to police and claiming he fell from a tree.
Michael Harrison was sentenced to at least 21 years in prison for the killing of his son Mikey on June 18, last year. Derby Crown Court heard how the 41-year-old "went crazy" and punched his son repeatedly in the horror assault at his home, even causing a laceration to the youngster's liver.
He then drove them both to Shipley Country Park, Heanor, Derbyshire and phoned 999, telling the call handler that Mikey had fallen from a tree during a game of hide and seek. Tragically, Mikey may have survived had emergency services been called earlier, the court was told.
During his sentencing, Judge Shaun Smith KC said the Harrison had lied about the killing and taken his son to the park in an attempt to cover up his crime. He also cleaned his property in a desperate attempt to get rid of any evidence.
Wearing a t-shirt with the word 'family' emblazoned across it, Harrison was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years. According to DerbyshireLive, the reported judge told Harrison: “At 18 minutes past one on Saturday June 18 (2022) you embarked upon a charade solely intended to protect yourself.
“That was because you had attacked your 11-year-old son Mikey. You hit and punched him many times. At least one of those blows was so hard it lacerated his liver.
“Rather than face up to what you had done, you made a call to the ambulance service to report that Mikey had fallen out of a tree. What you did that morning ended the life of a little boy and emptied the lives of many others.”
At the popular beauty spot, Harrison began his futile attempt to cover his crime by calling for an ambulance and lying to emergency responders - with his entire account later described in court as "utter fiction". When paramedics arrived at the park, they found Mikey sitting in the front passenger seat of Harrison's van.
Peter Joyce, KC, proescuting, said Mikey was struggling to breathe and rushed hospital, but he tragically died just over an hour later. The prosecutor said: "The defendant said he had been on a day out with Mikey at Shipley Park and they were playing hide and seek.
"The defendant said he had not seen Mikey climb a tree but heard him fall. This entire account of the fall was utter fiction.
"This was made up by the defendant to cover up the fact that he himself had fatally injured his son and was attempting to cover up his actions by taking him to the park.
"The defendant made every attempt to cover up what happened, the bungalow where they lived was visited by crime scene investigators on June 30, all of the windows were open and the house had been stripped of almost every item one would expect to find in a home. The meter was missing and there was no power to the premises."
During the initial post-mortem examination, several bruises and grazes "all of recent origin" were found on Mikey's body, and there was also a laceration to his liver. He said: "The laceration had caused a significant bleed, there was one-and-a-half litres of blood on Mikey's stomach capacity."
A second examination concluded there was "multiple blunt force trauma and injuries to his face, head, arms, back and neck."
Mr Joyce added: "The conclusion is that the injuries were not explained by a single fall, he had a number of blunt force trauma injuries to a number of areas of his body."
A cause of death was given as a laceration to the liver caused by multiple blunt force injuries. Mr Joyce also said that an expert paediatrician later concluded that Mikey "may well have survived had he received prompt treatment".
Judge Smith said that Mikey "did not die straight away" and would have "developed increasing pain and nausea prior to his death".
Harrison, who was living in Heanor at the time, pleaded guilty to murder at a hearing on April 3. A victim impact statement, read to the court by Judge Smith, has told how Mikey "loved singing and lining up his teddies in his bedroom".
It read: "Mikey was special, beautiful and creative."
Vanessa Marshall KC, mitigating, said that her client failing to seek urgent medical help for his child was "unforgivable". She said Harrison was kidnapped and "severely stabbed" by a gang in 2006 and was renting the Heanor address where was attacked Mikey died under a false name to keep them safe.
After receiving his sentence, Harrison held up his t-shirt to the press bench and shouted: "I will always love my family, no matter what you lot say and whatever version of events you tell."
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