The father of a two-year-old girl was sentenced to life for her murder yesterday at Nottingham Crown Court. He had subjected the child to months of violent abuse, ending when he shook her to death.
Robert Brown (34) was described as an "evil" man who tortured his daughter Chelsea, slapping her when she did not obey him and forcing her to eat her own faeces if she soiled her nappy.
When she was admitted to hospital in December 1999, shortly before she died from head injuries after being violently shaken, doctors discovered more than 47 old injuries on her body, including many bruises.
Brown was also sentenced to four years for cruelty, which will run concurrently with the murder sentence. Her mother, Maria Brown (26), was sentenced to 18 months after she admitted child cruelty.
Derbyshire Social Services insisted they would learn the lessons of the case when it emerged during the five-day trial that Chelsea was sent back to live with her father even though social workers were concerned for her safety.
The court was told that Brown began abusing Chelsea when she came to live with him with her mother in August 1999. He would "throw her around", according to Maria Brown, and he already had a conviction for slapping a 16-month-old nephew. Chelsea was removed from the home and lived for a few days with her grandmother, but when she refused to take the child a second time, Chelsea was sent back to live with her abusive father.