A FATHER who killed his son by shaking him as a baby has had his jail time cut.

John Doak appeared at the Court of Appeal in London yesterday via video link after he was jailed last year following the death of his son, Jack Mitchell.

Doak was initially convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent in 2002, however, following Jack’s death in 2016, aged 15, from injuries he suffered as a child, he was summonsed to court again.

Doak, 37, of Delgate Avenue, Spalding, admitted manslaughter and was jailed for three years in November last year.

At yesterday’s hearing at the High Court, the manslaughter sentence was reduced by a year while the grievous bodily harm with intent conviction was dropped to a charge of grievous bodily harm.

Speaking during the hearing Lord Justice Holroyde told the court previous medical evidence on the grievous bodily harm with intent conviction was no longer relevant.

He said: “It became apparent as a result of meetings between the medical experts there was an issue about substantial force.

“It’s not possible to qualify the level of force or intention to cause serious harm.

“We accept with the refreshed evidence, the evidence at the time was unsafe and not reliable.”

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Jack was born a healthy child in 2001.

However, between March and May, there were four occasions where he stopped breathing.

On the fourth occasion, he was rushed to hospital where he was found to have suffered retinal haemorrhages and subdural haematomas – evidence of severe trauma.

A paediatrician believed his injuries to be the result of shaken baby syndrome and while Jack survived, he had sustained severe, irreversible brain injury.

Lord Justice Holroyde also told the court not enough weight was given to various factors in the manslaughter sentencing.

He said: “It would have been difficult for someone who had already served a prison sentence to know they will be going back to prison for a worse offence.

“The defendant and his family also suffered harsh consequences when it came out about what had happened.

“He also lost a son and had to come to terms with that.

“Due to the Covid pandemic he would have spent a long time locked in his cell and also caught Covid and suffers still with the after effects.”

Jack was removed from his home in Laindon by social care and was placed with a foster family in Harwich and had his name changed.

He required 24-hour care for his extensive medical needs.

Sadly, he died in 2016, aged 15 in Colchester Hospital.

A forensic post-mortem examination found he had died from a pulmonary infection and pneumonia because of the injuries he suffered as a baby.