A father has been jailed for life for killing his eight-week-old baby girl in Wixams last year.
Kevin Eves, 37, of Coppice Farm Road, in Penn, High Wycombe, was jailed on Wednesday, November 6, 2019, at the Central Criminal Court in London for the murder of his baby daughter, Harper Marie Denton.
Eves was convicted by a majority verdict on Tuesday, November 5, 2019, following a jury trial that lasted for four weeks. He has been handed a life sentence and must serve a minimum of 20 years behind bars.
Baby Harper died on the morning of June 12, 2018, shortly after an ambulance was called to an address in Wixams, where Eves was living at the time. Paramedics had responded to a report of an unresponsive baby girl who wasn’t breathing. Despite attempts by her mother to resuscitate her, Harper was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Bedford Hospital.
Examination results showed that Harper had a number of bone fractures to her ribs, arms legs and feet, which Eves claimed to know nothing about.
Although the results from a post-mortem examination were unable to determine a cause of death, the court heard how the evidence was consistent with smothering. The pathology report showed that the bruises and fractures the baby had were of differing ages and suggested a pattern of inflicted trauma in such a young child.
Eves was found responsible for all baby Harper’s injuries.
Upon sentencing, the judge Her Ladyship Mrs Justice O’Farrell described the violent assaults that Harper was subjected to as “cruel, brutal and vicious.”
She said: “Unfortunately, you did not have the instinct to protect and nurture that most parents have; you were insensitive to the fragility of a young baby; you were unable or unwilling to put her needs before your own comfort; you had uncontrolled rage.
“You could be in no doubt that you had caused great distress and suffering.”
The judge took into account Eves’ previous conviction for causing grievous bodily harm to a two-year-old child in 2006, when he was living in Bournemouth and using his original name Kevin Forbes.
After being found guilty at Bournemouth Crown Court, he had been sentenced to nine years in prison before being released in 2010. Eves’ case is subject to a Serious Case Review by Bedford Borough Safeguarding Children Board, which is due to be published shortly.
Harper’s mother, Cherinea Denton, was originally charged in July 2018 with murder, causing or allowing the death of a child and causing or allowing a child to suffer serious physical harm, but was formally acquitted of these charges on 3 October. Miss Denton has continuously worked alongside the police by providing evidence within the trial.
