Baby Eli Cox appears in a video before he was killed by his mum Katherine Cox and stepfather Danny Shepherd
Published: 16:00, 04 August 2017
Facing the camera and taking his time to crack a smile, this is tragic baby Eli Cox just two months before he died.
The video, captured by a family friend, emerged a day after Katherine Cox, a mum-of-nine, and her boyfriend were found guilty of causing the death of her baby boy from a 'catastrophic' brain injury.
As well as the head injury, baby Eli was found to have 28 fractures of varying ages to 19 bones and had also been exposed to drugs at his home in Lapwing Close, Minster, Sheppey.
Video of baby Eli Cox just weeks before he started suffering serious injuries
A medical expert said the fractures were consistent with being “twisted, pulled, crushed and bent in half”.
The oldest fractures were up to 10 weeks before his death, in April 2016.
Danny Shepherd, 25, and Katherine Cox, 33, now of Faversham, denied causing or allowing the death of a child between April 12 and 28 last year and causing or allowing physical harm to a child.
They also denied possessing the Class B drug amphetamine on April 14.
Yesterday, the jury unanimously convicted them of all charges.
Shepherd was remanded in custody after his QC Nadine Radford asked for a psychiatric report - likely to take up to 12 weeks - to look at the issue of autism. She added that he had a low IQ.
The judge said the report should concentrate on "autism or any mental health issues which might be relevant to culpability".
The judge refused a bail application for Cox and she was also remanded in custody.
He told Cox and Shepherd: "We will meet again in 12 weeks time. Do you understand?"
Shepherd replied: "Yes." Cox replied: "Yes, your Honour."
The maximum sentence Cox and Shepherd could face is 14 years.
More by this author
Chloe Holmwood