![]() ![]() 'He has had fairly intensive intervention with physiotherapy as well as speech and language therapy, his speech having been delayed by the amount of time he has spent in hospital.' 'He was often quite distressed, not least when doctors undressed him to examine him. 'His foster family took very special care of him and he went back to the Evelina hospital at least twice a week. ![]() 'Very sadly, he was emotionally completely shut down - glazed eyes and absolutely no expression on his face. He was on morphine for the first few months and very strong antibiotics. She said: 'He was in a pitiful state and despite being four months old by then weighed just 9lb 7oz, and that included the weight of two plaster casts he had on his legs. He is still affected by the horrific injuries but does not let it define him, the court heard. ![]() In her impact statement to the court she said Tony, who has had his name changed, had made a 'wonderful impact' on his new family. Prosecutor Heather Stangoe revealed that Tony Smith had found a 'wonderful' new home. She then told the court: 'Those injuries have had, and continue to have, a life-changing effect on Tony and his needs are exceptional. Sadly, the septicaemia was so severe that Tony, who has since been adopted and given a new identity, has been left with life-changing injuries.Īs well as having had both legs amputated, his hip joints are so damaged by infection that they may not be able to even bear the weight of prosthetic limbs.īut in spite of his horrific start in life and facing on-going medical treatment and disability, the court heard how the youngster, now aged three, is thriving with his new family.Īmid remarkable court scenes in which jurors, staff and even the judge were reduced to tears before erupting into applause for his new parents, prosecutor Heather Stangoe introduced two images on a TV screen of a beaming, bright-eyed little boy giving a thumbs-up to the camera. He was in so much pain from this one injury alone that he showed signs of distress even when sedated in hospital. The dislocated fracture to the youngster's right lower leg and ankle may have even been inflicted by a swinging action. ![]() Mother Jody Simpson, 24, and father also called Tony Smith, 46, denied causing or allowing serious physical harm to a child and cruelty but a jury took less than an hour to find them guilty The court heard the horrific fractures to both the youngster's thighbones and lower legs, right ankle, left thumb and two bones in a big toe were revealed by subsequent x-rays.Įxperts later concluded they would have been caused by yanking, pulling and twisting, with considerable force and up to 10 days before he was finally taken to his doctor. It was only 'aggressive' medical treatment from the GP, paramedics and staff at Pembury Hospital in Kent and then London's Evelina Children's Hospital which saved his life. He was grey, frothing at the mouth and grunting, with a 'shockingly swollen' body and in multiple organ failure. Maidstone Crown Court in Kent heard that by the time the baby, also called Tony, was seen by doctors at 41 days old, he was seconds from death with septicaemia. Who can a child of 41 days turn to other than those who brought him into the world and are meant to love him unconditionally? That didn't happen in this particular case.' Rubbish is pictured piled inside a child's cot at the home in Maidstone where Tony Smith was abused by his parentsīut he added: 'What I can say is this I cannot envisage a worse case than the one I have had to deal with over the course of the last two weeks. ![]()
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