A father who broke his four-year-old son’s neck and left him agony for more than a week before the baby finally succumbed to his injuries has been jailed for life.
Little Ollie Davis, from Leicester, endured 40 broken bones across his tiny limbs and a series of brain injuries after suffering a horrendous campaign of abuse at the hands of his father, Michael Davis, in October 2017.
The violence occurred over a span of several days – potentially as many as 10 before his death – while Ollie’s mother, Kayleigh Driver, stood by and did nothing to save him.
The baby’s injuries were compared to that of a car crash, but when questioned in police interview, Davis showed no sign of emotion or remorse, and claimed he had ‘no idea’ how the poor youngster came about his death.
Davis was today jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years for the murder, while Driver, who the court was told had a mental age of just over 11, was jailed for seven years.
The pair were convicted last month but sentencing was delayed until today as the court tried to make allowances for Driver’s disabilities, the court heard.
Ollie Davis was pronounced dead after being found lifeless in his bedroom in 2017
Davis, 29, has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years for murdering his son
Jurors cleared Ollie’s mother, Kayleigh Driver (pictured), of murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent, but she was jailed for seven years for the crimes of causing or allowing the death of a child and causing or allowing a child to suffer serious physical injury
The pair were convicted last month but sentencing was delayed until today as the court tried to make allowances for Driver’s disabilities, the court heard
The pair were not charged until four years after Ollie’s death, such was the extent of the injuries he suffered and the medical expertise needed to examine them, police said.
The infant had sustained broken ribs, as well as fractures to his skull, collar bone, both arms and all the joints in his four small limbs before he arrived at Leicester Royal Infirmary on the day of his death.
The tiny baby’s ‘snapped’ neck, sustained about four days before his death, was ruled to be the fatal injury by pathologists.
Sentencing the killer father today, Mr Justice Cotter said the October 2017 murder of innocent month-old Ollie had involved a ‘devastating’ fatal spinal injury.
The judge, sitting at Loughborough Court, said medical experts had confirmed that the little baby suffered 23 rib fractures and other horrific injuries usually seen after a ‘high energy car crash.’
After saying he was sure that Davis had caused all the injuries to his baby during four separate overnight ‘episodes’ of violence, Mr Justice Cotter added: ‘At least five different mechanisms were required to cause this terrible array of injuries.
‘Michael Davis, I have no doubt that during the night you became frustrated and angry and this led to terrible violence.
‘You assaulted him on multiple occasions. The attacks in their various forms were also brutal – in particular the fatal neck injury.’
In not seeking medical help, Davis had shown ‘callous indifference’ to Ollie’s suffering, the judge also said.
‘Ollie would have suffered intense pain. Each of the injuries was caused by you, Michael Davis and I’m sure that you, Kayleigh Driver, did not cause any injuries to Ollie,’ the judge said before delivering the sentence.
The judge told Driver she had clearly lied during the trial and must have heard him screaming when the injuries to her child were inflicted by Davis.
He said Ollie’s arm injuries would have led to him being in ‘excruciating pain’ and that it was ‘inconceivable’ that she did not know anything was wrong.
But he said her health ‘warrants a merciful approach’ to sentencing.
Michael Davis pictured during an interview with Leicestershire Police in 2017
Kayleigh Driver (right), 31, and father Michael Davis, 29, (left) appearing outside court in 2017
Narita Bahra, representing Ollie’s mother Driver, said her client had multiple sclerosis which was getting worse, clinical depression and a mental age of just over 11 years.
She asked the judge to suspend her client’s jail sentence.
Referring to Driver’s older children, who live with their father, she said: ‘Kayleigh Driver presents as a very tragic figure. She is a woman of hitherto positive good character and cared for three children alone for two years, day and night, as a single parent.
‘There’s no evidence of those children coming to any harm. There’s no punishment that will be greater than the suffering that she has suffered since Ollie’s death.
‘There is nothing left for this woman in life. There isn’t any benefit to physical incarceration.’ The court heard that Davis lacked maturity and never had any intention to kill Ollie.
Andrew Baxter, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor from the CPS said today: ‘Ollie Driver’s life was ended by his own father whilst his mother did nothing to protect him.
‘Rather than care for and nurture their vulnerable young baby, this child was abused my Michael Davis repeatedly until he killed him. Kayleigh Driver chose to do nothing to stop the abuse. The final days of Ollie’s short, tragic life were filled with pain and distress.
‘Rather than face up to their actions, both parents lied repeatedly about events, and have left it to a jury to determine the horrifying way they treated Ollie.
‘Ollie’s death at such a young age came as a devastating shock to his extended family. Our thoughts and sympathies are with them.’
The CPS said Davis lashed out at his tiny son because he was tired from spending nights gaming instead of sleeping.
Rather than raising the alarm immediately, Davis claimed he tried CPR for 15 minutes before summoning help. The prosecution argued that this was the act of someone who knew he was responsible for what had happened.
Crown Counsel Jonas Hankin KC said during the trial that the prosecution believes that Ollie was subjected to serious physical abuse which ‘most likely took place during the last 10 days of his life’.
Driver (pictured with Davis) was found guilty of charges of causing or allowing the death of a child and causing or allowing serious physical injury.
Mr Hankin told the jury during the trial: ‘Michael Davis said he checked the baby. He said, ‘I thought he was a bit quiet – normally he would be moaning and whinging.’
‘He said Ollie was lying on his back and his head wasn’t straight. He said Ollie’s eyes were closed and when he touched Ollie’s forehead it was ‘really cold’. He said there was no breathing whatsoever and Ollie was floppy.
‘He said he then commenced CPR without calling for help and despite having had no first aid training.’ Davis told the police that after trying chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation he carried the lifeless child downstairs.
Mr Hankin said: ‘Kayleigh Driver said that during that time she had heard nothing – no panicking, no shouting from Michael.’
The jury also heard that the couple had not been together when Driver discovered she was pregnant. She had gone back to living with an ex-boyfriend and Davis was living with one of his friends.
The prosecutor said Davis had asked Driver: ‘Do you even know it’s mine?’ Mr Hankin added: ‘However, he did subsequently satisfy himself the child was his so they resumed their relationship.’
Mr Hankin had previously told the jury it would be a matter for them whether both Davis and Driver were responsible for murdering Ollie, or whether one of them committed the murder.
The prosecutor added that the pattern of injuries was ‘recognised to occur in cases of physical abuse’ and that the jury ‘can be absolutely sure Ollie was being physically abused’.
Davis pictured in 2020 during a police interview. He denied being responsible for Ollie’s death
In his police interviews, Davis denied having ever harmed Ollie. He told officers about discovering his son’s still body at the home in Upper Temple Walk, Beaumont Leys, Leicester, on the morning of Saturday, October 21, 2017.
Davis told Leicestershire Police detectives he had got up to feed Ollie at 3am after being woken by his crying.
Afterwards he went back to bed and woke up with Ollie in the crib beside his bed and Driver downstairs with her mother.
Video footage showed Davis being interviewed by police in 2017, immediately after Ollie’s death.
The officer questioning him asked him to explain ‘how it might have happened’ that his son suffered his horrific injuries.
Mumbling, Davis replied: ‘I haven’t got any idea of how this might have happened, no.’
When the detective asked whether it is a shock to hear of the extensive injuries, Davis seems unphased and replied calmly: ‘Yeah, yeah.’
The officer added: ‘How do you account for these injuries on Ollie?’
Davis replied: ‘Not sure how he’s got any of them.
‘Because I didn’t even know there was any injuries or anything.
‘Because when I did put him to bed at about three, he seemed fine and everything looked fine.
‘He seemed fine when he was sleeping. He wasn’t acting any differently.’
In another video, filmed during his interview in 2020, he is seen wearing a mask.
He was asked directly by police whether he is responsible for his son’s murder, but again he says without emotion, ‘no’.
The results of a Child Safeguarding Practice Review, published after the jury’s verdicts, found social services had concluded closer work with the family was not considered necessary ‘despite the significant previous involvement which both parents had had with children’s social care’.
