Now the girl has died at age 11 from pneumonia, which was linked to the cerebral palsy she developed as a result of the devastating brain injuries she had received as an infant. Prosecutors are now looking into prosecuting dad for manslaughter.
I know of at least one case in the US where prosecutors have tried to go back and retry a dad after a shaken baby death:
http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2009/06/dad-to-be-tried-for-murder-after-sons.html
http://www.northantset.co.uk/news/Inquest-into-child-who-died.5780573.jp
Inquest into child who died from dad's baby shaking
Published Date: 30 October 2009
The Crown Prosecution Service is to re-examine evidence surrounding the death of an 11-year-old girl from injuries suffered when she was just a baby.
An inquest yesterday heard that Lucy-mae Preston was shaken so badly when she was just nine-weeks-old that she was left severely disabled and given a life expectancy of five years.
Her father Paul Gray, who used to live in Corby, was jailed for three years for grevious bodily harm but served just 18 months.
After Lucy-mae died at the age of 11 in November, police re-examined the case to see if they could bring a manslaughter charge against him.
Prior to the inquest, the Crown Prosecution Service said the evidence available at that time would not have led to an increase in his sentence.
But they said further evidence from the inquest will be looked at again.
The court heard from doctors who linked the onset of pneumonia, which ultimately claimed Lucy-mae's life, to cerebral palsy caused by the injuries she suffered as a baby.
Carolyn Preston, a social worker who adopted Lucy-mae when she was 15-months old, told the court Lucy-mae had been plunged into a cold bath following the attack – so whenever she tried to bathe her daughter, she would stiffen up.
Mrs Preston, who used to live in Churchill Way, Kettering, but has now moved, said: "We were told that the sentence the father would receive would not be worth it.
"I wish they could prosecute and he would receive a heftier sentence."
Pathologist James Padfield, told the court: "The right side of her brain was devastated due to the shaking. The fatal pneumonia developed as a result of her head injuries."
Mrs Preston said when she saw her daughter after the post mortem examination, it was a scene that will never leave her because of the state she was in.
Coroner Anne Pember said that her verdict was that Lucy-mae died following shaken baby syndrome.
She said: "Her natural father shook his little daughter when she was nine-weeks-old.
"I'm extremely sorry for the upset you have gone through with the post mortem examination in the hope of prosecuting, and then to be told not."
After the inquest, Mrs Preston said: "The CPS should be asked to look at the case again at the very least."
A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police said after the inquest: "On Lucy-mae's death we completed a thorough investigation and prepared a report for the Crown Prosecution Service, which made the decision not to bring further charges in relation to her death."
A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said: "Paul Gray was sentenced in 1998 to three years' imprisonment on the basis that his actions had reduced Lucy-Mae Preston's life expectancy to five years."
The full article contains 482 words and appears in Northants Evening Telegraph newspaper.
