A cannabis-smoking father who murdered his baby daughter by shaking her like a ragdoll has been jailed for life, with a minimum term of 16 years.
Thomas Holford claimed to have no memory of his “excessive and severe” assault on little Everleigh Stroud which left her with a catastrophic brain injury, leg and rib fractures and bruising when she was just five weeks old.
He also denied inflicting anal injuries during that same violent incident – described by a pathologist as one episode “escalating in severity” – while the tot was in his sole care at the family home in Wallwood Road, Ramsgate, four years ago.
But yesterday (July 3), a jury at Canterbury Crown Court found the 25-year-old unanimously guilty of murder at the end of a three-week trial and deliberations lasting more than 20 hours.
He was also convicted of assault causing actual bodily harm in relation to three “forceful and deliberate” penetrative anal tears.
Although Holford accepted he was responsible for his newborn’s injuries, and that he was under the influence of cannabis at the time, he gave no explanation as to how or why he inflicted them, referring to his lack of recall as “a sort of blank spot”.
Potential scenarios put forward by prosecutor Eloise Marshall KC included one where he had reacted to the youngster interrupting his late-night gaming session.
But although he was also accused of faking his memory loss, it was accepted by the prosecution that Everleigh’s murder was not premeditated and, referring to a letter he had written to the judge before the verdicts were announced, that he had shown remorse and regret.
Standing impassively in the dock at Canterbury Crown Court today (July 4) as the life sentence was imposed, Holford was told by Mr Justice Fordham that Everleigh, a “particularly vulnerable” baby by reason of age, had suffered “horror at your hands” – actions the baby killer had himself described in a letter to the court as “despicable and horrendous”.
Referring to Everleigh’s family, including her young mum, the judge also described how they had been “robbed of hopes, dreams and any kind of deep happiness, leaving a grief on all members for the rest of their lives”.
Holford, who has no previous convictions or cautions, cannot apply for parole until he has served his minimum term less 351 days already spent in custody – and will only be released when considered safe to do so.
Today’s sentence means he could be aged 40 when released.
Mr Justice Fordham also remarked that he sentenced on the basis the anal injuries were caused by a finger and not Holford’s penis or other object.
The court was told by Holford’s defence team that while in jail he had been “treated very badly” by other prisoners and “will continue to do so”.
Although Everleigh, who was born on March 13, 2021, suffered her profound injuries on the night of April 20 that year and into the early hours, it was not until two months after her first birthday that she died.
In that time, she remained blind, in a vegetative state, being fed by a nasal tube and in and out of hospital with her complex medical needs.
When the ultimate decision was made on May 27, 2022, by doctors to withdraw life support, the tot was in foster care.
But at the sentencing hearing, a victim impact statement describing the “devastation and shock” felt by Everleigh’s teenage mum Casey Stroud and her parents Kelly and Lewis Stroud was summarised to the court.
Referring to the fact it was written by Kelly, the prosecutor said: “In essence, she says that ‘in a blink of an eye our world came crashing down in the most heartbreaking and traumatic way.
“She notes it occurred on Casey’s 17th birthday which was intended as a day of celebrations. She describes it as a day when their faith in humanity was crushed.”
The court also heard that the family had since suffered a number of other bereavements and, as a result, found it “difficult to articulate all that they feel” and that it has only been recently that they have been able “to salvage some kind of life again”.
Ms Marshall continued: “Because of the nature of what happened to Everleigh and the proceedings that followed, they have sometimes found it hard to divulge all they have felt, and have had so many emotions over the last four years that the devastating loss of losing Everleigh in the way that they did will continue to resonate for many years to come.
“The shock is something they have not experienced before, albeit they had a short period of denial and desperately searched for answers.”
The court heard the dad has been diagnosed with ADHD as well as a developing personality disorder, with traits of impulsivity and an inability to control when under stress which would have been exacerbated by his cannabis use.
Mitigating on his behalf, his barrister Jo Martin KC told the court that along with Holford’s letter and the psychiatric evidence, which included a report that his lack of memory may have been a combination of his disorder, cannabis intoxication and a stressful event, there were a number of character references provided from family, friends and former teachers.
Of his regular cannabis use, Ms Martin said it was a way of “self-medicating” his mental health issues because “he believed it made him feel better”.
But, referring also to his expressed remorse, she added: “He will have to live with the fact he has killed his daughter. Remorse for taking away her life and remorse for the impact that has had, not just on him but his family as well and, more importantly, as set out in his letter, on the Strouds and, in particular, Casey.”
Ms Martin also highlighted that while the consequences of the shaking on Everleigh’s quality of life were an aggravating factor, the fact she survived for a period of time was “testament to her, the skills of the medics, no doubt, and also to her foster carer”.
It was on the morning of her 17th birthday that Casey, having spent the night with a girlfriend, returned home to find her boyfriend, then aged 20, asleep and their daughter seriously unwell.
In a 999 call, the newborn was described as “just” breathing, barely conscious, eyes swollen, cold to touch and “in agony”.
Holford, however, was relaxed and matter of fact with police officers, even asking about what games he should download onto his phone.
During his trial the court heard the long-term drug addict had been excited about his daughter’s birth, “gentle and confident” in his handling of her once born, and had tried to cut down his cannabis use.
But on that fateful day of April 20 – a date Holford said was one “celebrated by stoners” – he admitted smoking more than usual, and up to as many as seven joints in the hours leading up to the attack.
He had even sent a text to his dealer trying to scrounge more weed, describing his evening looking after his young daughter on his own as one that was “going to be f***ing stressful”.
Cannabis, a grinder and other drugs paraphernalia were later found by police on a desk next to a baby’s milk bottle in the bedroom he shared with Everleigh and Casey at her parents’ address.
But although subsequent tests on Holford’s urine sample revealed a high level of the cannabis breakdown product known as THC, the jury was told it could not be ascertained as to how much he would have been affected by the class B drug at the relevant time.
What other medical evidence did show, however, was that Everleigh’s brain bleed had been caused by shaking, her rib fractures were the result of being gripped and squeezed, while a flailing, twisting or pulling motion led to the leg injuries.
Holford, from Chelmsford in Essex, was initially arrested in April 2021 on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm, and then in relation to murder following Everleigh’s death.
Having been charged by Kent Police in the summer of last year, he subsequently admitted responsibility for killing his daughter by pleading guilty to manslaughter.
But although he told the jury cannabis made him “quite snappy” – and agreed with the prosecution that “something set him off” that night – he denied murder on the basis he had not intended to kill Everleigh or cause her really serious harm.
Ten jury members returned for the sentencing hearing, where the charge of manslaughter was ordered to lie on the court file.
Referring to the Stroud family’s victim impact statement, Mr Justice Fordham said: “Everleigh’s nan, Kelly, has described the impact of what you did – how your actions denied Everleigh a life, how your actions denied a lifetime of hopes and dreams of Casey – a wonderful young mum who never gave up fighting for her daughter from the 999 call to the moment of Everleigh’s death.
“How your actions robbed the Stroud family of any kind of deep happiness, leaving a grief on all members of the family for the rest of their lives.”
A text Holford sent his girlfriend while she was at Margate’s QEQM hospital with Everleigh, saying he “understood” if she no longer wanted him in her life was, said the judge, him “appreciating that the horror of what Everleigh had suffered at your hands was emerging”.
He added: “Everleigh received multiple injuries that night. She had been grabbed around the ribs and shaken with a force that caused her brain to move and her feet to flail.
“The jury was sure that whatever your memory then or now, you shook Everleigh intending to cause her really serious injury and you inserted something into her anus deliberately rather than by accident.
“You have told me in a letter today how you wish you could end your actions and stop the carnage…You also take full accountability for your actions which you have described as despicable and horrendous.”
