Joshua Millinson murder trial: Baby's 'whole brain was damaged', court heard

The boy was 13 days old when he was taken to New Cross Hospital in cardiac arrest and died following nearly a month on life support. His father, Daniel Sanzone, is accused of shaking Joshua at his home in Whitburn Close, Pendeford, on October 24 last year, but denies murder.

Giving evidence on Tuesday, consultant neuropathologist Daniel Du Plessis outlined the extent of damage.

He said: "No part of his brain was spared injury. These were devastating, severe and irreversible injuries incompatible with survival due to some episode where the brain was deprived of blood and oxygen supply.

"It was the period where there was insufficient or no supply to his brain that led to this damage.

"If you look at the whole picture he stopped breathing and his heart stopped because of a traumatic injury on the brain and spine which led to a cardiac arrest which led to brain damage."

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At Birmingham Crown Court, Dr Du Plessis set out the exact nature of Joshua's head injuries, which also included bleeding within the protective layers covering the brain.

He said the subdural haemorrhage consisted of a thin layer of blood across both sides of Joshua's brain. It was explained to the jury that kind of bleed was often indicative of a child who had been shaken.

Dr Du Plessis, added: "The double attribute of a thin layer of blood and it being bilateral in an infant points to a traumatic brain injury as the cause and raises suspicion it was a result of some non-accidental event.

"Quite often that involves vigorous shaking with or without impact."

The court heard 'contusional' tears were also discovered on Joshua's brain, which Dr Du Plessis said he believed meant 'substantial force' was involved. He said: "It is rather exceptional to find tears in a child of this age. There are no studies to show it involves greater force.

"It is a reasonable assumption if we see those tears in a shaking scenario the best explanation would involve substantial force more than in a usual case of fatal shaking."

Sanzone, aged 23, denies murdering Joshua, causing or allowing his death and cruelty to a child.

Joshua's mother, Howell, 19, faces and denies the latter two charges and is accused by the prosecution of 'turning a blind eye' to the risk of harm to her child. The trial continues.