Mother’s anger after man who broke baby son’s skull goes free

Steven Pickering, 32, escaped a jail term for assaulting baby Logan when he was in his care.

Now, Logan’s mother Sinead Nield, 22, has told how Pickering robbed her of a year of her baby’s life as he was taken into care as authorities investigated who was responsible for Logan’s “non-accidental” injuries – with Pickering never admitting to her what he had done.

A court heard Pickering momentarily lost control and gripped, shook and threw down Logan, who will be three next month. He admitted assault causing grievous bodily harm on January 16, 2010.

Judge Jonathan Rose, sitting at Bradford Crown Court, imposed a 12-month sentence suspended for two years, saying the only thing that kept Pickering out of jail was his low intelligence.

After the case, Sinead said: “He almost killed his own son and should have been locked up.

“I feel disappointed and let down by the system that it has taken since 2010 for this to come to court. But even now Steven hasn’t said how the injuries were caused.”

Denise Breen-Lawton, prosecuting, told the court Pickering, who had a daughter by a previous relationship, did not work and was described as “lazy” at home, doing little to look after Logan.

Sinead was taking a hairdressing course at Huddersfield Technical College and on January 16 left Pickering to look after Logan on his own.

Miss Breen-Lawton told how at lunchtime Pickering phoned 999 and paramedics arrived. Pickering said Logan was “floppy” and “breathing funny” but insisted nothing had happened.

At first medics suspected meningitis but investigations subsequently found that Logan had a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain. A doctor later said Logan had been subjected to “significant forces”. It was likely the baby had been “held, shaken and thrown down.”

Pickering denied hurting his son but admitted to being “a bit heavy-handed or rough” but no-one had shown him how to handle a baby.

A “findings of fact” hearing in June 2010 decided that Pickering had caused the injuries.

Gillian Batts, for Pickering, presented a psychological report which described Pickering as “less intellectually able than 99 per cent of his peers”.

Miss Batts said he was not able to deal with Logan and should really never have been left alone with the child.

Pickering was also given a two-year supervision order and told he could never work with children.

Ms Nield told after the case how she left Logan with Pickering while she returned to college for one day a week.

She was called out of an exam to hear Logan had been rushed to hospital.

Pickering insisted he knew nothing of Logan’s injuries but a specialist decided it was “non-accidental”, meaning Sinead was only allowed supervised access to her son.

“I was confused, angry and just wanted to hold my poorly baby,” she said. “We were asked how the injuries happened and were given the opportunity to admit to anything. I was devastated that anyone could have hurt my baby.

“Had Steven confessed at the very beginning my baby would have been returned to me.”

But Logan was placed with foster parents and Sinead had a daily 30-mile round trip to see him.

She said: “Leaving my baby was the hardest thing and our bond was destroyed. It was obvious he saw his foster mum and dad as his real parents and I was devastated. I missed so many of his milestones and I can never get that back.”