A father who killed his 14-week-old daughter has been jailed for 14 years. Christopher Easey, 31, of Ely Road, Little Thetford, appeared at Norwich Crown Court today (Friday 29 April 2022) and was jailed for 14 years for the manslaughter of his baby daughter Eleanor. He also received a one-year custodial sentence for one count of child cruelty to run concurrently with the manslaughter sentence. Christopher Easey denied murdering Eleanor and was convicted by a jury at Norwich Crown Court of the lesser charge of manslaughter on 30 March 2022. He was also found guilty of one count of child cruelty at the same hearing. His co-defendant, Eleanor’s mother Carly Easey, age 36, of Elizabeth Drive, Chedburgh, received a 12-month community order at Norwich Crown Court today (Friday 29 April 2022). She was found guilty by a jury of child cruelty at an earlier court hearing. During the 10-week trial at Norwich Crown Court, the jury heard how Eleanor was rushed to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital on 18 December 2019 after being found unresponsive at home. She was later transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital where doctors confirmed she had suffered a catastrophic brain injury. Sadly, she died on 20 December 2019. Tests showed Eleanor had suffered bleeds to her brain on three separate occasions, the most recent within 48 hours of her being admitted to hospital, and multiple retinal haemorrhages. Her injuries were consistent with non-accidental head trauma, possibly due to shaking, impact or a combination of both. A Home Office post-mortem examination established cause of death as a head injury, of the shaking/impact type along with multiple historic metaphyseal fractures and multiple rib fractures. It also found she was malnourished. During the investigation, led by the Norfolk and Suffolk Major Investigation Team, detectives discovered that Carly had concealed her pregnancy. The court heard how health visitors had noticed bruising and scratches to Eleanor’s face, which Carly said were due to an ill-fitting car seat and the scratches were self-inflicted. The couple’s friends, work colleagues and family members told detectives how the parents fed Eleanor custard cream biscuits and lemon cheesecake, gave her squash to drink and left her home alone. The couple were initially arrested on suspicion of assault GBH in December 2019. Following the findings of the post-mortem, they were later re-arrested on suspicion of murder in January 2020. When asked by medics how Eleanor had sustained the fatal injuries, Christopher said he had been forced to brake suddenly with Eleanor in the car on 18 December. He also said she would sometimes bang her head on her cot. A police examination of the couple’s car didn’t find any evidence that it had been involved in a collision or a situation when the driver had forcibly applied the brakes. In her interview, Carly couldn’t account for Eleanor’s injuries other than the bruising to Eleanor’s face. Both parents were initially charged with murder. However, evidence showed Carly was not present at the time Eleanor suffered the brain injury that proved to be fatal, and prosecutors subsequently dropped the murder charge against her. Detective Inspector Lewis Craske, who led the investigation on behalf of the Norfolk and Suffolk Major Investigation Team, said: “Chris Easey has been found guilty of killing of his baby daughter and it is the awful truth that she died at the hands of the very man who should have taken care of her; someone who should have cared for her and shown unconditional love. Sadly, that wasn’t the case and little Eleanor was neglected for much if not all her very short life. “Finding out what happened in that family during Eleanor’s life and on that terrible evening in December 2019 has always been our priority. I know we did that and presented our findings. This was a very emotive investigation, and the memories of it will remain with us for quite some time.”
