Warning: This article contains details of violence against children that some readers might find disturbing.
A MAN IN the English town of Stockport, Lancashire has been handed a life sentence for what police called the “barbaric” and “disgusting” murder of his two-week old daughter.
Florence Mae Collins was being minded by her grandparents on the afternoon of 29 July last year, when she was collected by her father, 23-year-old Matthew Higham, and taken back to his house.
At 8.06 pm, Higham called 999 and asked for an ambulance, claiming he had been bottle-feeding the baby girl when she had a fit and began bleeding.
Florence Mae was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was later pronounced dead.
As soon as they arrived at Higham’s house, paramedics had immediately noticed bruising around Florence Mae’s head and face, and Matthew Higham was arrested the next day.
A post-mortem examination found the child had suffered multiple injuries “for which there could be no innocent explanation”, including several fractures to her skull and body.
Higham pleaded guilty to murdering Florence Mae earlier this week, and was sentenced at Preston Crown Court to life in prison, and ordered to serve at least 25 years.
Lead investigator Duncan Thorpe from Greater Manchester Police called it “one of the most heart-wrenching cases [he had] ever encountered.”
A young girl, barely two weeks after her birth, was snatched away from a loving mother, siblings and grandparents by the actions of a man who can only be described as barbaric.
The facts of this case are almost incomprehensible. It is almost impossible to believe that anyone could subject a tiny baby to such a disgusting attack, let alone her own father.
Thorpe said the coroner’s report had found the extent of Higham’s assault on his daughter to be “truly shocking”, and added:
Higham is fully deserving of spending the rest of his life in prison.
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