Dad guilty of shaking 15-week-old baby son to death


A father shook his baby son to death with the 15-week-old’s injuries so severe they were likened to a “high-speed car crash” .
Cody Rhys Williams-Jones died in December 2016 – it was later revealed he had suffered 13 broken ribs and a fractured shoulder.
Matthew Jones, 26, of Beaufort, Blaenau Gwent, claimed the injuries were caused when he accidentally dropped him.
Newport Crown Court heard Cody suffered injuries similar to “being thrown many feet from a vehicle”.
A pathologist told jurors he had so many haemorrhages in his eyes, it was impossible to count them.
The trial heard a post-mortem examination found Cody suffered bleeding on two parts of his brain, swelling on the brain, retinal hemorrhages, a bruise on his forehead and fractures to his ribs and left arm
Jones told the jury his son fell on to a mattress and bounced 2ft (0.6m) in the air.
During the trial, prosecutor Paul Lewis QC said: “The medical evidence is such that an accidental fall can be excluded.
“Cody’s injuries were as a result of deliberate violence probably in the form of both shaking and impact.”
Bethan Morgan was a departmental nurse in charge of A&E at Abergavenny’s Nevill Hall Hospital when Cody arrived on the evening of 6 December and was initially told he had suffered a head injury.
She described Cody’s mother Paula Williams, who was not present when he was injured, as “shocked, very stunned” and said Jones was crying and “still very upset”.
She added: “Dad [Jones] said he had been holding the baby and stumbled with the baby.”
Surgeon Daniel Morrison told jurors Cody’s injuries were “the consequence of an impact and/or shaking-type of head injury”.
Dr Katharine Halliday, a consultant paediatric radiologist, said the baby’s fractured shoulder was usually seen in the context of child abuse.
Jones – who was cleared of murder – said he was always “very gentle” with Cody and loved spending “father and son time” with him.
He sobbed in the dock when the verdict was read out and will be sentenced on Wednesday.
Susan Crossley of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Cody had everything to live for and that chance was taken away by his own father.
“It is difficult to imagine the heartbreak the family has gone through and our thoughts are firmly with them.”