WITHDRAWN
Baby abuser drops appeal
A baby abuser jailed for a decade has decided to drop her appeal to have her prison sentence reduced.
Jody Simpson, 24, was locked up in February for her part in leaving baby Tony Smith with catastrophic injuries when he was only 41 days old.
The three-year-old’s adoptive parents Paula and Mark Hudgell, from Kings Hill, campaigned for his birth mother and father, Tony Smith, to be punished for the injuries inflicted at their Square Hill Road flat in 2014.
Baby Tony had to have his legs amputated but has made a miraculous recovery and Paula, 50, now has her sights set on tougher sentences for other child abusers.
She said: “The police witness team updated me to say Jody Simpson has withdrawn her appeal which is probably due to the public outrage.
“KentOnline had lots of comments and the UK Database had 1,500 comments. We were shocked when she first appealed, but it has done us a favour because her face has been in the paper again.”
Tony is now thriving with his new family and has taken up tennis and football as he adapts to the world since suffering his life-changing injuries.
Paula has since launched a petition in a bid to help Crown Court judges have the power to hand out longer sentences to parents who injure their children.
The Kent Messenger office, in Middle Row, will have a petition that readers and visitors can sign.
Paula said: “The petition is going well and we have managed to get it all across the country.
“The online petition we had got around 5,000 signatures which shows that it is within everyone’s interest. These people need to be given longer for theses kind of offences.
“Our MP Tom Tugendhat has been great and he has been helping us getting signatures and trying to push it through.”