Thug who killed his partner's three-year-old daughter in a fit of rage is jailed

Residential home worker Paul Marsh, who had beaten little Jessica Dalgleish previously, sat with his head bowed as the victim's tearful mother called him a coward.

The 27-year-old had claimed he had found Jessica Dalgleish slumped behind the bannister near the stairs on December 21 2019.

Jessica - who was a vulnerable child because of medical problems - was airlifted from Folkestone to King's College Hospital in London but died on Christmas Eve in 2019 from fatal brain injuries.

Mr Justice Cavanagh told him: "The jury were convinced that you were solely responsible for previous injuries which you tried to pass off as caused by the child herself."

The judge said Marsh had been angry later that day and threw her roughly which resulted in her hitting her head against a hard surface.

He added Marsh had behaved in a cowardly way, with his first thought to protect himself.

After finding the injured child he immediately tried to cover up what he had done and then failed to call 999 straight away.

He told officers she had fallen down the stairs but had phoned emergency services at 3.10pm saying he had found her on the floor and she seemed dazed.

Paramedics attended and quickly realised that Jessica had suffered serious head injuries.

They arranged for an air ambulance to fly her to specialist care in London, but she died in hospital on the afternoon of December 24, 2019.

Marsh's account of what had happened was unclear, prompting an investigation by detectives from Kent Police.

Medical experts found Jessica's injuries were inconsistent with falling down the stairs and were more likely to have been caused by an impact, such as being thrown against the headboard or side of her bed.

The judge heard a victim impact statement read to the court by Jessica's heartbroken mum Hannah Butler, who said she is still being tortured by the brutal death and will never forgive Marsh.

She said: "I did not realise what the monster pretending to be human was doing to my innocent baby. No sentence will ever be enough and the fact he has been cocky throughout shows how unfeeling and unaffected this creature is.

"I will never recover from losing my baby. Jessica was a light in the world and to say she is missed is a massive understatement.

"I feel as though I died too the day Jessie passed but nobody buried me. I wake up in pain and the nightmares of not being able to save Jessica have never gone away.

"I sincerely hope that the justice system recognises the atrocity this monster committed against a small helpless little girl who did not understand what was happening."

Sentencing him, Mr Justice Kavanagh told Marsh: "I accept though you did not intend to kill the child nor indeed cause her really serious injury."

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court heard how Marsh was arrested at the hospital and told police: "This will ruin me."

He was convicted on charges of manslaughter and child cruelty after the jury were out for seven hours. He was jailed for 11 years.

Marsh, of Sandgate, Folkestone, had denied manslaughter following the December 2019 incident and cruelty to the child in the weeks before.

Prosecutor Jennifer Knight QC said he had told the mother that there was nothing wrong with Jessica when she found mystery bruises on her in the weeks before her death.

She told Marsh: "You know there was no mystery because you had caused the injuries."

The court had heard how Jessica had been born in February 2016 and suffered from autism.

She was under three feet tall and weighed just two stones and 11 pounds.

The judge said her mother was loving and dedicated but struggled to cope with the challenging demands of the child.

He said: "Despite all of her difficulties, Jessica was a lovely child. She was happy and loving. She had ways of making herself understood. She was cheeky and funny with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Her problems, and in particular, her lack of awareness of danger meant she was particularly vulnerable - even more so than most three year olds."

Marsh had displayed anger and frustration at Jessica's behaviour and staff at the nursery began noticing that the child had bruises.

The judge added: "On December 16, her injuries were more vivid still and Jessica did not seem to be her normal self.

"It is clear from the jury's verdict that they were satisfied that it was you who inflicted these injuries, which were caused by the rough handling of this small charge, by throwing her into the cot bed.

"You lost your temper and you took out your frustrations on her."

Detective Chief Inspector Neil Kimber, Senior Investigating Officer for the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: "This is a tragic case in which a young girl has been robbed of her life before it had really begun.

"Marsh was reluctant to get medical attention for Jessica on the day he inflicted these injuries and he has since sought to evade justice by changing his account and lying about what actually happened on that day.

"A meticulous investigation by my team, including sensitive interviewing of a number of witnesses and careful analysis of complicated medical evidence, has led to Marsh being found guilty of manslaughter.

"I hope the jury's verdicts and the sentence handed down today give Jessica's relatives some sense of closure as they continue to mourn her tragic death."