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Sugar Cookie

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A five-week-old baby died of a 'catastrophic' brain injury after suffering 47 rib fractures during repeated assaults at the hands of her parents, a court heard today.

Darcy-Leigh Jefferson also had fractures to both of her legs which were caused at different times during the ten days before she died in March 2022, prosecutors have alleged at her murder trial.
Sean Jefferson, 35, and Amy Clarke, 34, both deny murdering Darcy-Leigh, and causing or allowing her death.
Opening the case against the pair on Friday, prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC told Stafford Crown Court that Darcy-Leigh died on March 29, 2022 after being taken to hospital.


The court heard how Clarke was living at a 'tidy and well-presented' address in Hudson Drive, Burntwood, Staffordshire, where she gave the impression of being a mother who was in control while hiding the fact she 'drank a lot of alcohol and she took cocaine'.
Mr Sandhu told jurors: 'Darcy-Leigh Jefferson was born on February 20, 2022.


'She was premature by five weeks and, as we shall learn, she was tiny. She weighed just over four pounds when she was born.

'She died, only five weeks later, on March 29, 2022, after being taken into hospital two days earlier on March 27.
'She died because, on or around March 27, she had sustained a catastrophic brain injury. That happened because Darcy had been shaken violently or because her head had been struck against a surface.'

Mr Sandhu added that at the time the head injury was inflicted, Darcy-Leigh was in the care of her parents.
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This one hurts. My twins were teeny, tiny and came home when they reached 4 pounds. Though I was a seasoned mom already I was still nervous handling these tiny, little people. I so was careful and gentle handling them. I cannot imagine handling them in a manner that would results in 47 damned rib fractures. I hope these asshole die slow and agonizing deaths.
 
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A father has been jailed for life for murdering his five-week-old baby daughter who died after suffering dozens of injuries to her head, ribs and legs during repeated assaults.
Sean Jefferson, 35, was handed a minimum term of 22 years in prison for killing Darcy-Leigh Jefferson, who died in hospital on 29 March 2022.

During trial, Stafford Crown Court had heard the baby suffered a catastrophic brain injury at home in Burntwood, Staffordshire, on Mother's Day two days earlier.
Darcy Leigh's mother Amy Clark, 34, was sentenced to seven years in prison after being found guilty of causing or allowing the infant's death - behaviour the sentencing judge linked to substance abuse.

Both Clark and Jefferson had denied multiple charges ahead of an almost two-month trial that concluded last month.

Jefferson, of Birch Court, Walsall, was in addition to murder found guilty of two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Clark, from Lichfield, Staffordshire, saw charges of murder or manslaughter dropped by prosecutors towards the end of the trial. Alongside her conviction linked to the fatality, she was also convicted of two counts of causing or allowing serious harm to a child.
Police described the pair's crimes against their daughter as an "appalling betrayal".

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Darcy-Leigh, who was born five weeks premature, had a total of 47 rib fractures when she suffered the fatal brain injury.

Police were called by the ambulance service on 27 March 2022 after she collapsed at the Burntwood property, with her patents arrested the following day, the Staffordshire force said.

Jurors were told the child had been "physically assaulted on a repeated basis", with injuries caused by being shaken violently or having her head struck against a surface.
The court heard Clark had been struggling in the run-up to Darcy-Leigh's death and had sent Jefferson text messages about her exhaustion and his lack of support.

He responded with a message threatening to "put you 6ft underground" if she killed her baby through excessive drinking.

The trial also heard both parents were taking drugs during their daughter's short life.
Neither chose to give evidence in their defence.
 
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