Sheffield Crown Court: What judge told child killer Leon Mathias as her damning words rang in his ears

Mrs Justice Christina Lambert sentenced Mathias, aged 34, of Stonebridge Lane, Great Houghton, Barnsley, to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 16 years before he can be considered for release after he was found guilty during a Sheffield Crown Court trial of murdering his nine-week-old baby son Hunter.

Mathias was also found not guilty of a second charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent between November 22 and 29, 2018.

Hunter was initially taken to hospital in Barnsley with injuries on November 30, 2018, and later died on December 3, 2018, at Sheffield Children’s Hospital from a severe brain injury and was also found to have three lower-limb fractures.

Mrs Justice Lambert told Mathias: “When you were in the bath with Hunter, he opened his bowels causing the water and you to become stained. This combination of events caused you, momentarily, to lose your temper. In your frustration and irritation, you shook him. I cannot be sure of the degree of violence with which you shook him but it was, certainly, more than the normal handling of any infant of this age. Whether that shaking was in the bath or after you had climbed out, only you know. But I am quite sure that this is what you did.

"The jury heard evidence that shaking a baby can be lethal. The weight of the head in combination with the absent or poorly developed muscles and ligaments of the neck turns the base of the neck into a lethal pivot point. At the base of the neck, housed within the brain stem, are the nerves which control respiration. These nerves were damaged and caused Hunter to stop breathing and then lose consciousness.

“In a sense, the die was cast from this moment. Hunter’s circulation stopped. Hunter did not recover spontaneous breathing and circulation for 50 minutes by which time it was all far too late. Although the medical and nursing staff at the Barnsley District Hospital and at Sheffield Children’s Hospital strove valiantly to save Hunter’s life, he had been without circulation for too long for him to survive. I am sure, as were the jury, that Hunter died of the effect of him being shaken.”

Mrs Justice Lambert stated there was evidence of Hunter suffering bleeding on the brain, extensive bleeding at the back of Hunter’s eyes, blood blisters on the retina, damage to the sleeve around the optic nerve, and bruising to the head in four areas.

She told Mathias: “I have no doubt whatsoever that you did inflict those bruises to Hunter at around the same time that you shook him. Either by knocking or impacting Hunter’s head against a wall or hard object as you climbed into or out of the bath or by knocking or impacting his head on some hard surface as or after you carried him roughly and clumsily into the bedroom.

“Following Hunter’s collapse, you could have told the truth about what had happened. You knew that you had shaken Hunter. You knew that shaking a baby of that age could be lethal.”

She added: “By shaking your son in your frustration you breached that precious relationship of trust which exists between parent and child.”

Mrs Justice Lambert said: “The relationship of trust was all the more important because Hunter was tiny and vulnerable because of his age. He should have been safe in your arms. He should have received all the physical protection and safety that a parent of a child of that age could give. Instead, you lost your temper and you took out your frustration upon your nine-week-old son. Your behaviour was nothing short of grotesque.”

However, she accepted Mathias’ actions were not planned but he had acted out of ‘frustration and irritation’ and that ‘the intention to cause really serious harm may only have been momentary’ in a ‘a one off occasion’ in the context of his otherwise, positive good character.

Mrs Justice Lambert said: “I accept that you did not intend to kill but only that, in that heat of the moment, you intended only to cause grievous bodily harm.”

However, she also told Mathias: “The fact that you will have to live with the knowledge that you killed your own son, I accept will be a heavy burden. But we must all live with the consequences of our actions and you have expressed no remorse throughout this process.”

Mrs Justice Lambert added: “Your breach of trust in inflicting violence upon your defenceless nine-week-old son for no good reason other than that you had had a hard day at work is truly horrifying and difficult to comprehend.

"You knew that shaking him was potentially lethal. Although I accept that you may only have intended to seriously harm Hunter for a moment or two whilst you shook him, your rough handling of him at that time extended to causing four impact bruises to his head.

“I am sure that otherwise you had a loving relationship with Hunter and a loving relationship with many other people in your life but when I weigh those factors in the balance with your actions on and after 30 November, including your failure to inform the medical and nursing teams about what you had done, there is no doubt in my mind that they fall short by some margin.”