Tragic toddler suffered head injuries as bad as a road crash victim
Father’s fury as no-one is charged
A GRIEVING father whose toddler son died from horrific head injuries yesterday demanded justice for the boy.
Nineteen-month-old Sam Harry died after suffering injuries which were the equivalent of being in a ‘high-speed road crash’, his inquest heard.
Police arrested his mother, Deanna Buffham, and her new partner Ryan Bate, who were looking after the toddler at the time.
But both denied they had hurt the boy and police were unable to prove who inflicted the fatal injury, so no one has been charged or prosecuted over the death. Miss Buffham, 28, and Mr Bate, 23, are both due to give evidence to the coroner at Sam’s inquest today.
Sam’s father Nick Harry said he hoped their evidence would help to end his two-year fight for justice for his ‘angelic and happy’ son.
Mr Harry, 30, a chef, of Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, said: ‘I want answers, I want to know who killed Sam and I want justice for him.
‘Up until this happened he was a perfectly happy and healthy little boy and I will keep fighting until I know exactly what happened.
‘If that means a private prosecution then I’ll do it. Sam was an angelic child, a genuinely happy person, and his death has left a massive void in my life and the lives of his grandparents.’
Mr Harry and Miss Buffham were involved in a custody fight over Sam at the time of his death in April 2013, and the toddler lived with his mother during the week.
An ambulance was called to her house in Bromham, Bedfordshire. A medic said he and his colleague found Sam pale and unresponsive with one enlarged pupil and a ‘vacant stare’.
He was only wearing a nappy and his temperature was ‘ heading towards hypothermia’, emergency medical technician Roger Smith told the inquest in Ampthill, Bedfordshire. Miss Buffham said the boy had been suffering from a stomach upset for several days and Mr Bate said he had found him lying face down in his cot. A hospital scan found he had suffered a ‘huge’ bleed between his brain and his skull, typically caused by a ‘really significant’ blow or shaking, the inquest heard. Neurosurgeons at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge operated to relieve the pressure on his brain but doctors said it became clear he had no realistic prospect of recovery.
It was agreed that his life support should be withdrawn and he died in hospital three days after he was admitted. Home Office forensic pathologist Dr Nathaniel Cary said the devastating extent of Sam’s injury meant any adult caring for him would have been aware he had suffered a ‘substantial impact’.
He compared the force required to the impact of a high-speed car crash or falling from a single storey and said the lack of visible bruising could be explained by his having been hit against soft furnishings, or a carpeted floor.
Dr Cary told the inquest the injury was not consistent with a child just falling over and Sam had no underlying health problems. He also found no evidence of any history of physical abuse or injuries.
‘I would say there was a trauma for which there was no explanation,’ he said. ‘An inflicted trauma would be a distinct possibility.’ The Crown Prosecution Service said evidence proved Sam’s injuries were non-accidental, but said it could not prosecute without a realistic prospect of a conviction.
In a letter to Mr Harry, the CPS said: ‘Sam was in the sole care of the two suspects, which means that one or both of them must have been responsible for Sam’s injuries.’
It added: ‘It would not be possible to prosecute the suspects on a joint enterprise basis simply because we know that one of them must be guilty of the offence.’
Miss Buffham and Mr Bate have both denied injuring Sam and are due to give evidence today. They are no longer in a relationship.
‘I want to know who killed Sam’