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17/04/2009
Convicted Child Abuser Jailed For 'Allowing' Baby Death
A convicted child abuser has today been jailed for two years and three months for doing nothing to stop his ex-partner's "horrific" cruelty against her son.
Paul Husband, 33, from Newham, east London, was found guilty of neglect in relation to the death of two-month-old Rhys Biggs.
The court heard when Husband was 18 he was convicted at Kirkcaldy Sherriff's Court in Scotland for "lewd indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour" with a child.
Claire Biggs, Rhys's 22-year-old mother was jailed for eight years for assault last month at Inner London Crown Court and banned from working with children for five years.
The former crack addict's campaign of abuse left the baby with 17 fractured 17 ribs, a broken shoulder and a snapped wrist.
Passing sentence at Inner London Crown Court, judge Lindsay Burn told Husband, who in 1993 was convicted of child sex abuse in Scotland: "You failed to give Rhys the medical help you knew he needed for the distress he was in from some cause."
The court heard a number of opportunities were missed by health agencies and a breakdown in information sharing, and Biggs was able to repeatedly crush the child’s chest resulting in a "horrific" series of injuries.
Husband failed to either stop her or help the baby, and Biggs went on to break the child's right wrist and fracture his shoulder.
Because the cause of Rhys’s death could not be established, the pair could only be charged with child cruelty.
Judge Burn acknowledged that Husband had played no part in the physical abuse of the two-month-old boy.
He said: "The jury convicted you of child cruelty in which you failed to give Rhys medical help when it was obvious to you such help was required."
He added: "They were satisfied that Rhys’s mother was solely responsible for the injuries to him."
Defending, Sally O'Neill QC said her client had been "distraught" with the baby's death. She added that he should have done more to help Rhys, but said he felt Biggs "knew best".
Ms O'Neill said: "He thought of Rhys as his own son.
"He still struggles with what he could have done to help him. He has got to live with that burden for the rest of his life."
(JM/BMcC)
Paul Husband, 33, from Newham, east London, was found guilty of neglect in relation to the death of two-month-old Rhys Biggs.
The court heard when Husband was 18 he was convicted at Kirkcaldy Sherriff's Court in Scotland for "lewd indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour" with a child.
Claire Biggs, Rhys's 22-year-old mother was jailed for eight years for assault last month at Inner London Crown Court and banned from working with children for five years.
The former crack addict's campaign of abuse left the baby with 17 fractured 17 ribs, a broken shoulder and a snapped wrist.
Passing sentence at Inner London Crown Court, judge Lindsay Burn told Husband, who in 1993 was convicted of child sex abuse in Scotland: "You failed to give Rhys the medical help you knew he needed for the distress he was in from some cause."
The court heard a number of opportunities were missed by health agencies and a breakdown in information sharing, and Biggs was able to repeatedly crush the child’s chest resulting in a "horrific" series of injuries.
Husband failed to either stop her or help the baby, and Biggs went on to break the child's right wrist and fracture his shoulder.
Because the cause of Rhys’s death could not be established, the pair could only be charged with child cruelty.
Judge Burn acknowledged that Husband had played no part in the physical abuse of the two-month-old boy.
He said: "The jury convicted you of child cruelty in which you failed to give Rhys medical help when it was obvious to you such help was required."
He added: "They were satisfied that Rhys’s mother was solely responsible for the injuries to him."
Defending, Sally O'Neill QC said her client had been "distraught" with the baby's death. She added that he should have done more to help Rhys, but said he felt Biggs "knew best".
Ms O'Neill said: "He thought of Rhys as his own son.
"He still struggles with what he could have done to help him. He has got to live with that burden for the rest of his life."
(JM/BMcC)
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