Man jailed for assaulting baby

A former soldier who battered a four-and-a-half month-old boy while out with his sex offender friend then lied to the police about who he was with has been jailed for 14 months.

David Parker, 33, was watching the baby when he met up with Paul Higgins and his partner Kenneth Grant – who is the subject of a sexual prevention order to stop him coming into contact with children.

While in the changing room at KFC on Glasgow’s Argyle Street, Parker assaulted the child who was then seen “crying and visibly distressed”.

The police were later contacted when the baby’s mother saw injuries on his face and he was later found to have further bruises on his thighs and head.

Parker claimed he was only with one friend whom he named as Paul. But CCTV from the fast food restaurant showed Grant with Parker, seen hiding the baby’s face.

At Glasgow Sheriff Court, Parker, from East Kilbride, pled guilty to assaulting the baby by “inflicting blunt force trauma on his head and body by means unknown” to his injury on 10 June last year.

He also admitted providing false information with intent to pervert the course of justice.

Yesterday Sheriff Johanna Johnston, QC, jailed Parker for a total of 14 months.

She told him: “These courts exist to protect the public, in particular it exists to protect the most vulnerable members of society, there’s nobody more vulnerable than an infant.”