'Frustrated and irritated' Preston father murdered baby son when he violently shook him, court told

A "frustrated and irritated" father murdered his baby son when he violently shook him, a jury has heard.

Paul Sayle is accused of deliberately inflicting serious injuries on his six-week-old son Huxley Sayle in Preston on 14 June 2022.

Jurors were told police discovered internet searches on the 31-year-old's devices from shortly after Huxley was born including "baby crying makes me angry dad” and “I’m getting so angry when baby won’t sleep”.

Huxley was rushed to hospital in the early hours of the morning after his mother, Livinia Sharples, told emergency services that her son was not breathing at the couple's home, a court heard.

A CT head scan at the Royal Preston Hospital revealed unexplained bleeding in different parts of Huxley's brain which raised suspicions of a shaking-type injury.

He was transferred the intensive care unit at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, but never regained consciousness.

A post-mortem examination ruled the cause of death was a "traumatic head injury" with the pathologist concluding that Huxley was forcefully gripped or squeezed and suffered “an episode or episodes of vigorous shaking causing his head to oscillate backwards and forwards”.

Opening the prosecution case on Monday at Preston Crown Court, Anne Whyte KC said: “We do not say that Peter Sayle intended to kill his son, rather he deliberately and knowingly used force intending to hurt Huxley seriously and to silence him.

“We say regrettably that Peter Sayle was, at times, simply not coping well with parenting a very young baby.

“Huxley had, like many babies, been very unsettled at times. Due to his age he would have been waking up and feeding frequently including during the night.

“Judging by the accounts given to various healthcare professionals about Huxley’s presentation and the searches conducted by Peter Sayle, Huxley was proving, at times, to be an irritating presence to his father.

“Any infant of Huxley’s age would naturally require the most patient care and handling. Instead, Peter Sayle was plainly frustrated by the disruption."

He continued: “On 14 June 2022 Peter Sayle’s undoubted frustration spilt over when he was tending to Huxley alone in the early hours, no doubt wishing Huxley would just to go to sleep.

“Then he quickly started lying about what had happened because he knew precisely what he had done. He had no honest explanation for it and simply lacked the courage to tell his partner – now wife – or the medical staff or the police what really happened.”

Sayle told detectives there was no inflicted head trauma and said he never forcefully shook Huxley, the court heard.

He also denied being angry at his son and said the internet search terms expressed “just over-stimulation like when someone slurps a drink next to you or the dog chews in your ear”.

Sayle denies murder.