Postman Jailed After Killing Girlfriend's 18-Month-Old Son Because He "Irritated" Him
Postman, Scott Coombe, 24, killed his girlfriend's 18-month-old son because he became "irritated" with him. The infant suffered months of abuse before being violently shaken and thrown, causing a fatal head injury.
Over the course of a year, 18-month-old Andrew Cawker was repeatedly attacked by Scott Coombe after he moved into Tamika Beaton's southeast London flat.
The toddler eventually suffered a fatal head injury, inflicted by Coombe.
London's Metropolitan Police said that the child's mother suspected her son was being abused but chose not to seek help or to intervene.
Little Andrew Cawker never regained consciousness and died in hospital after his head hit the floor two weeks earlier, when Coombe violently shook him and threw him after he became "irritated" caring for him while Beaton was at a dance class in July 2019.
The court heard how Coombe had called 999 after fatally injuring Andrew, claiming that the youngster had started "looking a bit stiff" and had suffered a seizure.
Hospital staff raised the alarm to authorities, saying the injuries sustained could not have been accidental.
A post-mortem examination found that the child died from a head injury, while numerous other bruises were found around his shoulders and face.
A pathologist dismissed Coombe's version of events as "implausible" given the severe injuries the child sustained.
Officers discovered messages and pictures documenting Andrew's injuries on the phones of both Beaton and Coombe.
Met police said that it was clear from the phone evidence that Andrew's injuries occurred while he was in the sole care of Coombe, who had been in a relationship with Beaton since July 2018.
In recovered messages to her mother, Beaton indicated that she was aware that Andrew was being physically harmed while in Coombe's care but chose to allow the abuse to continue.
On Friday, at the Old Bailey, Coombe was jailed for nine years after pleading guilty to manslaughter, child cruelty, and assaulting the toddler on three occasions.
Beaton was sentenced to 12 months suspended for 18 months after being found guilty of child cruelty.
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