Couple Jailed for Abuse of Sick Baby...

A WEST YORKSHIRE couple who subjected their six-week-old baby to a catalogue of abuse and then failed to seek medical help when she contracted meningitis have been jailed for three years today.

Only when the tiny infant's condition was life-threatening did Rizwan Patel and Alliah Bradshaw seek vital treatment. But by that time the baby, known only as Baby H and who was on the at-risk register, had suffered brain damage and was left partially blind, deaf and with cerebral palsy.

She had also suffered two broken legs, which they similarly ignored for three weeks in 2007, despite being told to have the child X-rayed.Patel and Bradshaw, of Hebden Bridge, previously pleaded guilty to child cruelty and appeared at Bradford Crown Court for sentence today.

Patel, 26, admitted two charges of child cruelty and one of inflicting grievous bodily harm on the baby, and Bradshaw, 29, pleaded guilty to two charges of child cruelty.University educated Patel, who has no previous convictions, was jailed for a further 18 months after pleading guilty to one count of grievous bodily harm after shaking Baby H so hard she suffered nine broken ribs and a broken collar bone.

The court heard their daughter was on the at-risk register with social services after two other children in Bradshaw's care were taken away from her.The first became known to the authorities when he was rescued from a burning crack den where Bradshaw had left him in the care of drug users while she went out.

Luckily he was rescued by fire fighters and was treated for smoke inhalation.

In 2002 he was removed from her care permanently after he was found wandering the streets, partially clothed and covered in his own excrement, while Bradshaw bought drugs in a phone box.

In March 2003 a second child in Bradshaw's care was taken away from her by social services because she was failing to meet his needs due to her excessive drug use.

The court heard that in the case of Baby H both Bradshaw and Patel were receiving regular visits from health and support workers after the child was born in January 2007 until she was taken out of their care on March 6 that year.

Dressed in a black shirt and head scarf today, Bradshaw wept while Patel, in a baby pink shirt and jeans, sat stoney faced as they slistened to the grim details of their charges dating between February and March 2007.

Sentencing them, Judge Jonathan Rose spoke of the child's "obvious and demonstrable pain"

which they had ignored and said: "Between then and her admission to hospital her existence was almost entirely one of suffering and misery."He told the court since her birth Baby H had inadvertently received fractures to both her thigh bones and her tibia, probably from being forced into clothing while she was being dressed.

Despite her pain, the defendants ignored advice from health professionals, who told them on at least three occasions to take her to hospital for X-rays.

On March 5 a health worker who was anxious to examine the baby's leg was persuaded not to by the couple who said she had just settled and should not be disturbed.

They had covered the baby up to her shoulders with a blanket.The judge slammed the pair's actions and said: "It was a deliberate step to avoid discovery.

The child was not likely to receive the proper medical attention for her injuries. You lied saying you would take her for x-rays later that day.

"Neither of you had any intention to seek medical attention for her leg injuries."On March 1 2007, Bradshaw went out to meet her former partner to buy drugs and did not come home until the following morning.In a fit of temper, because he was anxious about Bradshaw, and angry that Baby H wouldn't stop crying, Patel shook his daughter so hard he broke her collar bone and nine ribs.

Over the next four days Baby H began passing and coughing blood and vomiting.On March 6 Patel finally took her to their local GP who were so concerned by the baby's 'grey' appearance they immediately called an ambulance and rushed her to Calderdale Royal Infirmary.

There medics discovered the extent of the tot's condition - on top of her bruises and broken bones she was suffering from deadly meningitis and septicaemia.

Despite the best efforts by medics, she was left with cerebral palsy, partially blind, deaf and unable to speak, sit up or feed herself unaided.Now aged two-and-half, she is happy living with a foster care family. She has had surgical implants to help repair her deafness, requires physiotherapy every day, and has splints on her legs.

She has only just managed to suck her thumb for the first time and has a lop-sided body which required a special sleeping device.

A serious case review was launched by the Calderdale's Independent Safeguarding Children Board the month after Baby H was admitted to hospital. Its results are expected to be released this Autumn.