Drug-fuelled dad who murdered baby after she 'interrupted gaming session' learns fate

A drug-addled dad was today jailed for life after brutally murdering his five-week old daughter when she interrupted his late-night gaming sessions.

Baby killer Thomas Holford shook his little girl Everleigh Stroud so hard she suffered “catastrophic” brain injuries. The tot tragically died in hospital when she was 14-months-old after being subjected to the “excessive and severe” shaking as a newborn. She spent a year in hospital fighting for life due to the injuries at the hands of her evil dad.

Holford, 25, was today jailed for lifewith a minimum term of 16 years for her murder at Canterbury Crown Court. It was suggested that he assaulted the baby after she had interrupted a late-night gaming session on his computer, and that having inflicted the horrifying injuries he then gripped or clamped her mouth to stop her crying.

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But although Holford, from Danbury in Essex, agreed that something had set him off that night, he maintained throughout his evidence that he could not remember the crucial incident. The jury of seven men and five women found him unanimously guilty of murder and ABH after deliberating for more than 20 hours.

Chilling bodycam footage released after his conviction revealed the moment cops detained him over Everleigh’s death on April 20, 2021. Kent Police cuffed the then 20-year-old at his home, where he lived with his 16-year-old girlfriend.

The killer casually stretches as an officer tells him: “I’m sorry to have to do his but we’ve had an update from the hospital and they’ve said the injuries to her face look like they’ve been caused by a person.” Holford stands with a blank expression on his face as the police woman continues: “The only person with her was yourself.” “Yeh me,” he replies calmly.

During his trial, medical experts gave evidence that her injuries were consistent with being gripped tightly and violently shaken. Everleigh had been perfectly healthy when she was left in Holford’s care the night before in Ramsgate, Kent. But by 9am the next morning, she was barely conscious and completely unresponsive.

Holford admitted the manslaughter of Everleigh Stroud. The court previously heard how he claimed he had no memory of the incident, and he had smoked multiple cannabis joints on the evening he attacked his daughter. The jury at Canterbury Crown Court found him guilty of murder and causing actual bodily harm.

Everleigh was rushed to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) in Margate on the morning of April 21 2021, when her grandmother reported she was "only just" breathing. Holford showed "little emotion" and continued to download and play games on his phone when police arrived at the scene, jurors heard.

His daughter died when her life support machine was turned off a year after the attack, which left her with severe injuries to her brain, ribs and legs. Holford lied to police about his cannabis use, and while giving evidence, he told jurors he had at least five joints on the night before Everleigh was taken to hospital. When asked by prosecution barrister Eloise Marshall KC why he had lied about his cannabis use, he said: "I'm trying to project an image of something that is better than reality."

During the trial, defence barrister Jo Martin KC said that Holford showed no planning, premeditation or motive before killing his daughter. She said: "This cack-handed, cannabis-fuelled young man would try everything he would normally do to work out why she was crying and then he would move on to stopping that crying." But Ms Marshall told the court that Holford "would have known he would have caused that child really serious harm" by shaking her with "extreme force".