Dad goes on trial again accused of murdering two week old baby by shaking her with 'abusive level of force'

A dad allegedly left his new born daughter like a 'rag doll' after shaking her with an 'abusive level of force', a court has heard.

Darin Harvey is on re-trial having been accused of murdering Felicity-May Harvey at their home in Heywood in January 2021. He denies the charge.

Bolton Crown Court heard that Felicity-May was 'shaken with force' which caused her 'catastrophic' injuries on January 8 of that year. The 20-day-old baby was born with a cleft palate which meant she required the 'greatest degree of care' and specialist nurses supporting the family to make sure the baby was properly fed.

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Tim Storrie KC, told the court that Felicity-May's mother, Heather Connolly, had left the home in Stirling Place around 2.10pm that day, leaving Harvey alone with the baby, with her feeding time coming up at 2.30pm. As she was just about to re-enter the home just after this time Ms Connolly received a call from Harvey who said 'something's wrong with baby' to which she immediately hung up and ran into the bedroom where Felicity-May was.

Ms Connolly took hold of the baby and "saw something unmistakably was wrong," Mr Storrie said, before calling an ambulance. Felicity-May was rushed to hospital but died from catastrophic brain and spinal injuries three days later.

Before leaving on the afternoon of January 8 Ms Connolly checked on Felicity who was sleeping in a Moses basket in their bedroom. She was out of the house for "no more than 15 minutes," Mr Storrie KC said, "but by the end of those 15 minutes her whole world had changed".

Ms Connolly rushed back into the home after receiving the call from Harvey but by the time she had reached the bedroom Felicity-May