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A MUM who joked about her bruised son looked like a “little madman” in texts to her partner before he shook him to death is facing jail.
Louise Lennon, 32, and Jake Drummond, 33, also messaged each other a reference to putting 15-month-old Jacob in a “torture chamber”.
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The mum was today convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child and child cruelty, while Drummond was found guilty of murder.
He shook little Jacob to death at home in Roehampton, South West London, after taking cocaine with a friend.
The Old Bailey heard Drummond waged a campaign of deliberate assaults on the toddler that Lennon did nothing to stop.
On August 27, 2019, the mum called 999 claiming Jacob had bumped his head “like he fell out of bed or something”.
She also claimed her son had tripped on their way back from a supermarket.
Medics found his eyes were so swollen he could not open them and he “looked like a panda” because he had such dark bruises.
He also had bruises on his forehead and head while his skull was “almost soft and spongy-like”.
The court heard his genitals were swollen and he had an injury on them consistent with “extreme pinching” or biting.
Traces of cocaine were also found in his system after he died.
A post-mortem found Jacob died after multiple episodes of inflicted trauma culminating in the infliction of the fatal head injury.
The pathologist also found it is likely Jacob hit his head against a blunt surface while he was being shaken.
Jacob had several previous injuries that were days to weeks old and a “final” injury which was less than two days old.
Prosecutor Sally O’Neill KC told jurors: “It is the Crown’s case that Jake Drummond had embarked on a campaign of deliberately assaulting and hurting Jacob between July and the end of August.
“The injuries which he caused were obvious and noticeable.
“It is clear that at some stage that night, if Jacob was in bed with Louise Lennon at 1am, someone must have taken him out of the bed.
“It is also clear that at some stage, someone, the Crown say Jake Drummond, seriously assaulted Jacob by shaking him and hitting him so severely that he became unconscious.
“It is almost inconceivable that Louise Lennon would not have heard the sounds of that assault, but even if she didn’t … she not only did nothing about it but contrived with Jake Drummond to concoct a story to try and create a completely false account of what had happened to Jacob.
“The events schedule demonstrates for you what the priorities were for these defendants. Jacob’s well-being did not feature in that list. They were concerned only for themselves and their own needs and interests.”
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