A DAD who attacked his eight-week-old son because he would not stop crying tried to blame his two-year-old child for the tot’s injuries.

Preston Crown Court heard the little boy suffered at least 18 injuries at the hands of his frustrated father, who lives in Darwen.

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Jailing the dad for 20 months, Judge Jacqueline Beech, said: “Two years later he was still blaming his other son, that is not remorse.”

The father, who legally cannot be named to protect the child’s identity, eventually pleaded guilty to wilfully causing unnecessary suffering to the baby.

In August 2014, the prosecution said the man had taken the baby and toddler downstairs at their family home to let their mum have a lie-in.

The baby was crying and would not settle.

When the children’s grandma arrived, unannounced, she was met by the father, holding the screaming baby in his arms, the court heard.

Noticing the tot had bruises on his upper chest area, the grandma examined the little boy, with the children’s mum present, and the two women took the baby to hospital, leaving the toddler at home with his dad.

But when doctors saw the little boy’s injuries, they called for the father to explain how they had come about.

In the two years that followed, the court heard the dad gave several different accounts, firstly saying he had swaddled the baby too hard, and later claiming the two-year-old had inflicted the injuries.

Consultant paediatrician Dr Russell Austen said the injuries were consistent with squeezing over a 20-minute period.

The defendant admitted he had been increasingly frustrated that the baby would not stop crying.

Anthony Parkinson, defending, said: “These offences were committed out of naivety and poor parenting skills. He effectively lost his temper for a short period of time.”

The man and his partner have now separated and he has only been allowed supervised contact with his children.

But Judge Beech said: “Only he knows what happened in that 15 to 20 minutes when this baby suffered these injuries.”