A father has been found guilty of murdering his two-week-old son in a special care baby unit.
Daniel Gunter, 27, inflicted ‘catastrophic injuries’ to the head, neck, legs and jaw of Brendon Staddon.
Brendon was found in his cot at Yeovil District Hospital in Somerset on March 5 last year.
Bristol Crown Court heard that after inflicting the fatal injuries which left his son’s head ‘crushed’, Gunter walked out of the hospital for a cigarette, leaving nurses desperately attempting to resuscitate him.
Gunter has now been convicted of murder following a three-week trial.
His former partner Sophie Staddon, 23, was cleared of causing or allowing the death of a child.
A female juror was visibly upset as the foreman returned the verdicts and as she wiped tears away, she was comforted by two fellow jury members.
The jury previously found Staddon not guilty of murder and cleared Gunter of causing or allowing the death of a child on the direction of the trial judge, Mr Justice Swift.
Daniel Gunter, 27, inflicted ‘catastrophic injuries’ to the head, neck, legs and jaw of newborn baby Brendon Staddon (pictured), jurors heard
Daniel Gunter (pictured) has been found guilty of murdering his two-week-old son in a special care baby unit in Yeovil, Somerset
The defendants showed no emotion as the verdicts were returned.
Gunter, of no fixed address, will be sentenced on a date to be fixed.
Remanding Gunter into custody, the judge told him: ‘Daniel Gunter, you have been found guilty of murder. You will be remanded into custody pending the sentencing hearing.
‘Sophie Staddon, you have been acquitted by the jury. Your bail will no longer be necessary and you are free to go.’
The trial heard hospital staff had discovered Brendon’s injuries after Staddon told nurses her son was cold and asked them to check on him.
Charles Row KC, prosecuting, said: ‘Staff found him lying in his cot with his baby grow open.
‘They immediately saw that he wasn’t just cold but that he had suffered catastrophic injuries.
‘In plain language, his head had been crushed so as to shatter his skull. He was badly bruised from head to toe, with deep scratches in his neck.
His former partner Sophie Staddon, 23, was cleared of causing or allowing the death of a child
‘He was later found to have, amongst other injuries, a broken neck, a broken jaw, broken legs, broken ankles and broken wrists.’
The prosecution said staff carried his ‘limp, lifeless body’ to the resuscitation area, but Brendon did not respond to treatment.
The jury heard Gunter and Staddon were arrested by the police while smoking outside.
Mr Row said that before Brendon died, social services and Gunter’s family were worried about the ‘lack of emotional warmth’ the couple showed their child.
When Brendon was born on February 20 2024, attempts were made to persuade Staddon to stay in the hospital, but she went back to the temporary accommodation she shared with Gunter.
While in hospital, Gunter repeatedly ignored the advice of nurses, taking Brendon out of the incubator without asking, overstimulating the child to the point of causing him distress and removing his nasal gastric tube.
Family members had witnessed Gunter shouting and getting angry at Brendon while visiting them in hospital and would handle him roughly.
Louise Besica, Gunter’s aunt, said: ‘I felt like he had no patience. He was really rough with him with how he was putting him in his babygrow.’
Daniel Gunter (pictured), 27, inflicted ‘catastrophic injuries’ to the head, neck, legs and jaw of Brendon Staddon, a trial heard
Mr Row said the jury needed to understand the ‘sheer brutality’ involved in the death.
A post-mortem examination found Brendon died of ‘blunt force impact(s) head injury’ with multiple non-accidental injuries to the head.
The court also heard the pair had an ‘on, off’ relationship, with Gunter described as being ‘violent’ towards his partner, controlling her finances and who she could talk to.
A social worker visited the couple in January 2024, telling them that the authorities were planning to remove the baby from their care when he was born.
Mr Row said: ‘The authorities were concerned about many things, including their precarious housing situation, the way Mr Gunter appeared to control Ms Staddon and her finances, Ms Staddon’s physical and mental health and their lack of engagement.’
He told the jury the couple showed no emotion at the news.
Gunter told officers: ‘At no stage did I do anything to Brendon that could have caused him any injury. I was with Sophie the whole time and she didn’t do anything either.’
In a separate statement, Gunter said: ‘I would never hurt my baby boy.’
Daniel Gunter (pictured), of no fixed address, will now be sentenced on a date to be fixed
Staddon told police: ‘I had done nothing to harm Brendon at all. I love him. He was my everything. I would not have harmed him.’
Following today’s verdict, Brendon’s grandfather Simon Gunter told how the boy was ‘born early and was so tiny, but so beautiful’.
The grandfather added: ‘He was just perfect. Despite his early arrival, he was a little fighter and proved his strength in the very short life he had.
‘As a family, we were so happy and excited. We had bought clothes, toys and supplies in preparation for his arrival and we all had exciting plans for the future.
‘But we have been robbed of a life of memories of Brendon. We won’t get to see his first steps, hear his first words, take him on his first holiday, and see him grow into a young boy then a man.
‘We will never have those memories. They have been taken from us and he will never be replaced.
‘I hope Daniel gets what he deserves for what he did to Brendon but, whatever the outcome, it will never bring him back.
‘Today some justice has been served, but we still have many unanswered questions.”
The newborn baby died at Yeovil District Hospital (above), the court was told
Det Chief Insp Nadine Partridge, who led the investigation, said: ‘The injuries that Brendon sustained were catastrophic and there wasn’t a part of his body which wasn’t bruised or broken.
‘It breaks my heart to see someone do such vicious things to a poor, innocent child who had his whole life ahead of him.
‘Brendon was failed in life. In death, justice is the only protection we can still offer him.
‘Cases where both the victim and the defendant are related in some way are among the most challenging for us as police.
‘I would like to firstly give my condolences to Brendon’s grandparents and their wider family, who we have supported through specialist family liaison officers.
‘This investigation has been long and complex, with the involvement of officers from several different departments and professionals from outside agencies.
‘I would like to recognise the efforts of everyone involved in this case, it has been a true team effort to bring the case before the courts and I am immensely proud of each and every person involved in this investigation.’
Ms Partridge later told the PA news agency how Brendon needed ‘justice for what’s happened to him’.
She described the baby’s mother Sophie Staddon as a ‘vulnerable young girl’ who was controlled by Gunter.
The DCI added: ‘The extensive injuries caused are something I’ve never seen before in my 22 years as a detective.
‘The brutality of the murder – and to such a young, vulnerable, tiny baby – is not something, thankfully, that happens all too often.”
She described Gunter as ‘very quick to anger’ and controlling and coercive towards his partner.
Multiple people have spoken of how he would become violent when frustrated, throwing things.
After the birth of his son, Gunter would ‘blatantly ignore’ the advice of medical staff, causing Brendon distress by jiggling and poking him.
Ms Partridge said: ‘Despite multiple times being told this, he ignored it, thinking that he knew best.
‘He would dictate what (Staddon) ate, when she smoked, who she spoke to, where she stayed.
‘After Brendon was born, social services offered Sophie a placement in a mother and baby unit and, as such, Daniel would not be welcome there and would lose control over Sophie and Brendon. She refused to take up that support.’
The officer said the parents had shown little emotion during the trial, but Staddon was visibly distressed when she alerted nursing staff at the hospital that Brendon was cold.
Ms Partridge added: ‘She was quite visibly upset at that point, bent over hysterically crying in the cot space next to where Brendon lay.
‘He was swiftly taken into the resuscitation room, and after a few minutes, both of them left the unit to go outside.
‘We can see that on arrest, on the bodyworn footage, that Sophie is quite visibly upset, and she’s crying about her baby being dead.’
Ms Partridge thanked the medical staff at the hospital for their work, saying: ‘They did everything they could to save Brendon.
‘Unfortunately, his injuries were too severe, and the small comfort I can take is that he wouldn’t have suffered for long.
‘My thoughts are that Brendon was failed in life, and the only way not to fail him in death is to get justice for what’s happened to him.’
A child safeguarding and practice review will be held to examine whether there were any missed opportunities to save Brendon and to identify lessons that can be learned.
