Guilty, the father who shook his baby girl to death
Second child also attacked
A FATHER was behind bars last night after he was found guilty of killing his five-weekold daughter and attempting to murder a young boy.
Ian Ruddock repeatedly shook his baby girl, Olivia, causing her to suffer extensive rib and head injuries on various occasions four years ago, from which she died.
He managed to evade justice and went on to attack a second infant two years later – on that occasion causing the boy to suffer a fractured skull and fractured ribs.
The 34-year-old was finally caught after police, tipped off by medics, launched an investigation shortly after the boy’s i njuries were discovered.
During a lengthy investigation, Ruddock continued to deny any wrongdoing and claimed to be a doting father.
He originally went on trial accused of murdering Olivia after repeatedly attacking her between January and March, 2011, at the family home in Clarkston, Renfrewshire.
But a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday found him guilty by a majority verdict on a reduced charge of the culpable homicide of Olivia.
Ruddock, of Shawlands, Glasgow, was also convicted of attempting to murder the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in 2013 at an address in Glasgow.
Judge Lord Bannatyne deferred sentence to obtain background reports and remanded Ruddock, who had been on bail, in custody. The judge also thanked jurors for sitting through a case of ‘ the utmost complexity’, telling them: ‘There are few circumstances more tragic than the death of a child.’
During Ruddock’s seven-week trial, his estranged wife, Wendy Ruddock, told the court about her daughter’s tragic final moments.
She said that Ruddock got up from bed in the early hours of March 6, 2011, to f eed their daughter.
But during the feed, Olivia became unwell, prompting him to shout for her. Saying he sounded panicked, Mrs Ruddock told the court: ‘I knew something wasn’t right.
‘He shouted on me to phone an ambulance, which I did immediately. The person on the other end of the phone was trying to talk us through CPR. But it was just panic stations.’
Financial services worker Mrs Ruddock, 37, said her husband performed CPR on Olivia ‘as best he could’ but medics were unable to save her life.
She told the court her husband was not capable of harming Olivia, adding: ‘I have never believed the allegations. I don’t believe he would hurt children – never, no way.’
However, she told the court that Ruddock could be moody and that their relationship became strained and he occasionally spent time away from her at his parents’ house.
Ruddock’s sister, Susan Drennan, 35, told the court her brother was ‘delighted’ when Olivia was born and told Advocate depute Ashley Edwards, prosecuting, the Ruddocks ‘were grieving for a very long time’ after her death.
However, the court heard that two years after Olivia’s death,
‘Few circumstances more tragic’
Ruddock targeted another young child at an address in Glasgow. The court heard how he seized a little boy and inflicted blunt force trauma to his head and body.
The boy was taken to hospital and doctors found he had several injuries to his head and body. The youngster has since recovered from his ordeal.
Throughout proceedings, Ruddock continued to protest his innocence and was joined in court every day by members of his family, who sat in the court’s public benches.
Giving evidence, he admitted shaking Olivia when she fell ill and unresponsive at the family home. He told the jury that his daughter’s final hours were ‘mainly a blur’, adding: ‘I was trying to get her to wake up. I can just remember holding her and trying to get her to wake up.’
Asked if he had hurt his daughter, he said: ‘I don’t believe for a minute that I’ve caused her death. It’s not even remotely possible.’
But Greg Irwin, a consultant radiologist at Glasgow’s Yorkhill Hospital for Sick Children, told the court he found ‘incontrovertible’ evidence that Olivia had sustained at least three fractured ribs before her death.
Defence counsel Donald Findlay, QC, said that convicting Ruddock would be ‘a catastrophic miscarriage of justice’ but the jury found him guilty.
Sentence was deferred on Ruddock until later this month at the High Court in Glasgow.
‘Miscarriage of justice’