A FATHER from Blackburn who left his baby son with two broken legs and a fractured rib has been jailed.

Kevin Paul James Brown, 26, of no fixed address but formerly of the Salvation Army in Heaton Street, admitted causing cruelty to Connor Brown, who was just five months old when the offending came to light.

Preston Crown Court heard how on July 18 last year staff at a homeless unit in Blackburn where Brown and his then partner and Connor’s mother, Chantelle Wilcock, were staying had noticed a bruise on the baby’s eye.

When his dummy was taken out Connor was also found to have a swollen lip. The couple were reported to social services.

It was noted that when Brown held Connor the baby appeared agitated but when his mum held him he was calm.

Connor was given a skeletal survey - a series of X-rays of all the bones in the body - at hospital which found that he had a fractured right rib and suspected fractured bones in the left and right thigh.

A second survey revealed that the rib injury was showing signs of healing and the thigh injuries were metaphyseal fractures.

These types of fractures are thought to be caused by a twist or pull being applied to the limb.

Bown and Miss Wilcock were both arrested and charged with assault, ill-treatment or neglect of a child in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering.

Brown admitted a charge of causing cruelty to a child last month and the crown prosecution service dropped its case against Miss Wilcock.

Francis McEntee, prosecuting, said Brown had claimed that the rib injury were caused by wrapping Connor in a blanket too tightly and the metaphyseal fractures were caused when the child’s pram had been pushed in to a wall.

But the court heard how Miss Wilcock had said Brown had caused the thigh injuries when pushing down on Connor’s legs when the baby had gone to extend them.

She had also said Brown had pushed the baby’s head forward with his hands around his neck, causing the rib to fracture.

The court heard how in a written report Dr Caren Landes, Consultant Paediatric Radiologist at Alder Hey Hospital, had said that those injuries could have been caused in the way Miss Wilcock had described.

But she said there was more than one violent incident towards Connor and couldn’t say if there had been other incidents of cruelty.

Defending, Kimberley Obrusik said Brown was immature and was not ready to be a parent. She said her client could not cope with Connor’s crying and spent time away from the house smoking cannabis with his friends to avoid him.

She said: “He accepts there was excessive force used to cause the injuries and he caused the injuries. He fully accepts he was aggressive and he lost his temper. These were not injuries caused maliciously.”

Sentencing Brown to two years imprisonment, Mrs Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb: “You caused him harm on more than one occasion. You didn’t seek any medical help for him.”

Connor has now been adopted by another family.

Brown was convicted for sending malicious texts to his former partner and also breeched a restraining order by sending a letter apologising for the fact Connor had been taken out of their care.

The court heard how Miss Wilcock, who has an older child by a different father, ended the relationship the day the offences came to light.