Dad guilty of murdering baby boy Abel-Jax after violently shaking him with 'force of a car crash'

A father has been found guilty of murdering his newborn baby after violently shaking him with the 'force of a car accident'.

Abel-Jax Mailey was just seven weeks old when Oliver Mailey inflicted fatal injuries on him at their home in Burnley.

The court heard how on 27 November 2021 Mailey shook his newborn son with such force that the child went limp and stopped breathing.

The 26-year-old rang Abel-Jax's mother, Mollie Gorton, and her cousin, before calling an ambulance.

The baby was taken to Blackburn Royal Hospital but later transferred to Manchester Children's Hospital where life support was withdrawn on 30 November.

Soon after, Mailey and Mollie Gorton were arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm, and later murder.

Mailey let Abel-Jax's heartbroken mother face investigation, knowing it was his fault their son had collapsed.

On the first day of the trial at Preston Crown Court, he confessed he had shaken Abel-Jax on another occasion, around a week before he died.

He claimed he did not know the child would be seriously injured. He also admitted shaking Abel 'in a moment of madness' when he would not stop crying on 27 November.

However his partner Mollie and the family's health visitor confirmed they had been warned of the dangers of shaking during a visit to the home for a routine during the week between the two shaking incidents.

Mailey, of Piccadilly Road, Burnley will be sentenced on Wednesday, 25 January.