Dad who shook baby daughter so hard she had heart attack is jailed

A dad has been jailed after he admitted shaking his tiny daughter so hard that she had a heart attack and died.

29-year-old Samuel Warnock admitted the manslaughter of three-month-old Miyah during the 2021 coronavirus lockdown.

An ambulance was called to their home in Devizes, Wiltshire, on September 20, 2021.

She was taken to Bristol Children’s Hospital but she sadly died just under a month later.

Miyah’s mum, 29-year-old Jasmine, also pleaded guilty to child cruelty.

Following Miyah’s death, extensive medical examinations were carried out which ruled out any natural causes.

These concluded she died as a result of a traumatic head injury consistent with violent shaking or blunt force.

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Childe said: ‘Samuel Warnock inflicted injuries on his baby so serious that she went into cardiac arrest, and despite the best efforts of medical experts, died almost one month later in hospital.

‘Her life was cut tragically short by her father. Her grandparents, who doted on Miyah have described her as a princess.

‘I cannot imagine how difficult this time has been, and continues to be for them as doting grandparents.

‘All officers and police staff involved in this case have been moved by the tragic circumstances of little Miyah.

‘I would like to thank them for their determination to bring Miyah’s parents to justice.’

In a short tribute to Miyah, grandparents Andrew and Michelle Rideout said: ‘Miyah was our princess. We are devastated by the loss of our granddaughter.

‘We will never get over losing her.’

Samuel Warnock was sentenced to 14 years in prison, while Jasmine Warnock was handed a three-year community order and given 30 rehabilitation days.

Sentencing the pair, judge Mrs Justice May said the death came against a background of domestic abuse by Warnock against his wife.

She described Warnock as a ‘reckless and irresponsible new father, prone to anger, easily frustrated, profoundly needy and dangerously incapable of caring properly for a tiny new baby’.

The judge told Mrs Warnock: ‘You are to some extent a victim of controlling and coercive behaviour and this impacted your ability to recognise what he was doing but it didn’t render you entirely powerless.’

Prosecutor Caroline Carberry said the fatal incident happened two days after Warnock had called 999 reporting that Miyah was having difficulties breathing – but she was deemed to be normal after paramedics carried out observations.

Warnock had been alone with his daughter for 25 minutes when Miyah suffered her fatal collapse, the court heard.

She said family members had spotted bruising on Miyah’s legs and shoulders prior to the fatal incident, and friends later said they saw Warnock handling the baby inappropriately.

She said: ‘Friends were concerned about Samuel Warnock’s behaviour towards his daughter, his rough handling of her.

‘He was smoking cannabis close to the Moses basket, he was seen to grab her out of the basket while she was asleep, holding her above his head and commenting it was like a scene in The Lion King.

‘He was seen not to support her head and moving her body back and forth.’

Warnock was on bail for dealing cannabis at the time of the fatal incident, and continued to deal drugs while Miyah was being treated in intensive care.

She said that Warnock had been ‘controlling and coercive’ towards his wife, but she had failed to raise the alarm when she knew he had caused Miyah injuries.

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