A MAN who violently shook a five-week-old baby has been jailed for three years.

Michael Joslin did not tell medical staff at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage what he had done and instead claimed he had fallen over a dog while he was carrying the boy.

It led to a delay in him being transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge for specialist treatment, Luton Crown Court was told.

Joslin, 34, of Highwoods, Colchester, admitted neglecting a child by not getting medical attention and causing grievous bodily harm.

Wayner Cleaver, prosecuting, said: “He has belatedly accepted the injuries were caused by shaking. It was shaking well beyond normal handling for a child.

“The bleed to his brain would have caused him to appear limp and lifeless immediately. It would have been apparent to anyone something was seriously wrong.”

The baby’s mother found him in his cot with bruising on his head.

She and Joslin took him to Lister Hospital. An examination found he had suffered bleeding in his brain, spine and haemorrhages in his eyes.

The baby experienced fits and was transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

Mr Cleaver said: “The injuries to the brain have caused long-term developmental effects. His speech and learning has been affected. His mobility is impaired and communication is still restricted.”

In a statement read to the court by Mr Cleaver, the mother said what happened was “immensely painful and devastating”.

She went on: “How could this happen to my precious baby boy. His whole future has been rewritten by his injuries.”

Jane Bickerstaff QC, mitigating, said Joslin was remorseful.

“He lost control of himself and his normal law abiding non-violent self for just a few seconds.

“Having inflicted injury, he panicked and put his own self-interest before that of the baby.

Judge Recorder Amanda Tipples QC said: “It is not only his life, but his mother’s life that has changed for ever.

“As a result of your actions every day for the rest of his life he will be faced with difficulties and challenges.”