A man has admitted killing his daughter after she suffered brain and bone injuries when she was just five weeks old.

Thomas Holford appeared at Canterbury Crown Court today where he pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of little Everleigh Stroud.

But the 24-year-old has denied a charge of murder and therefore still faces a trial.

Holford was initially arrested after the baby was taken to the QEQM hospital in Margate in April 2021.

She was suffering from injuries that included widespread cranial haemorrhages and spinal, leg and rib fractures, said to have been sustained at an address in Wallwood Road, Ramsgate.

Everleigh, who had been born on March 13, was then transferred to St Thomas' Hospital in London where she spent more than a year in a vegetative state until she died aged 14 months on May 27, 2022.

The cause of death was later ascertained to be hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy - when the brain is starved of oxygen or blood - and a brain bleed.

A police investigation followed which led to Holford, of Pedlars Close, Danbury in Essex, being charged earlier this year.

For his pre-trial review hearing in front of Judge Simon James, he appeared via prison video link, having previously been remanded into custody.

But Holford was told that the current trial date of January 13 had to be vacated, with a new provisional start date of June 9.

Judge James said however that further enquiries would be made to see if proceedings, which are expected to last three weeks, could be brought forward to May 12.

Although Everleigh sustained her injuries in April 2021, the charges of murder and manslaughter to which Holford entered his pleas have the date of May 27, 2022 - the day she died.

The dad was again remanded into custody, with a further case management hearing to be held at the same court on February 28.