Thug Christopher Fulton jailed for brutal cruelty against newborn baby

A thug and a bully who battered, shook, and almost squeezed the life out of a newborn baby was today handed a 22-year jail sentence.

Until now, it could only be reported that Christopher Fulton had assaulted a very young child, but on application by the media, Judge Peter Irvine KC varied the reporting restriction, allowing it to be stated clearly how the 6 foot 3, 16 stone man left a four week old baby bruised, blind and brain damaged.

Jailing the 35-year-old at an emotionally charged Newry Crown Court today (fri) Judge Irvine told him: “I have found you to be dangerous in relation to young children”, so in addition to the 22-year jail sentence for inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, he ordered that Mr Fulton will be subject to an extended licence period of five years.

He told the long-haired thug the assault on the four week old child in November 2019 resulted in “devastation to his life” but even before those “dreadful events…you displayed aggressive behaviour towards him”.

The judge added that even when the baby was in hospital undergoing life-saving brain surgery, Mr Fulton was “distracted and laughing” at videos on a mobile phone as he “displayed a total disregard for his well being”.

The extended custodial sentence means Fulton will have to serve half his sentence before he can apply to the Parole Commissioners to be freed on licence. Unless they are satisfied that the defendant can be managed, he could potentially be behind bars until he is 57-years-old and even then, he will be subject to release conditions and potential recall to prison until he is 62.

Standing alongside her estranged husband, 36-year-old Amanda Fulton was handed a four-year sentence with half to be served in jail and half on licence, for two counts of child cruelty by the wilful neglect of the four-week-old baby.

Jailing her, Judge Irvine told Mrs Fulton, “You failed to protect P, knowing that your husband was quite capable of causing him physical harm, knowing that he was seriously ill, you neglected his well-being”.

“Your dereliction of duty and care to P was unforgivable,” declared the judge.

At the end of the five-week trial last October, the jury found Fulton unanimously guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent and two charges of child cruelty by wilfully neglecting the young victim.

While Mrs Fulton was acquitted of GBH and one charge of child cruelty, she was, however, unanimously convicted of causing or allowing the child to suffer significant physical harm and a further charge of wilful neglect.

The court heard how the one month-old baby was unresponsive on the morning of 7 November 2019 at Fulton’s home at Rockfield Gardens just outside Ballymoney, but despite their concerns, neither defendant called a doctor for three hours. When the little boy was eventually seen by the GP, it was obvious to him that “he was a very sick chid”.

Initially, he was rushed in an ambulance to the Causeway Hospital, where a scan uncovered a significant head injury, and he was then taken to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, where he endured lifesaving brain surgery. It was there that doctors discovered the true extent of his life-threatening injuries including:

One paediatric consultant after another testified how the injuries were consistent with those which might be expected in a high-speed car crash or being dropped “from several stories high”.

By their verdicts, the jury declared they were sure that Christopher Fulton struck the boy so hard he fractured his skull and lacerated his liver, that he shook him with such ferocity that all his limbs sustained fractures and at the time he was squeezing him so hard he broke his ribs.

The jury also declared they were satisfied that it is not the first time that Fulton compressed the little boy’s chest with such force that 12 other ribs had been broken before and were healing. Mrs Fulton, the jury decided, did nothing to help or intervene.

In what is a legal first in Northern Ireland, a harrowing Victim Impact Statement was read verbatim to the court directly from the witness box of Newry Crown Court where the little boy’s foster mum laid bare the consequences of the treatment.

“If the sky were made of parchment and I were to fill it with words of how much he means to us, it would still fall short to describe the love that we have for him,” she told the court, revealing how the injuries he sustained were not just life-changing but they were also life-limiting.

During his 45-minute sentencing remarks today (Fri), Judge Irvine repeated part of her testimony, laying bare how the now five-year-old victim cannot see, speak, walk, talk or eat, and he endures cerebral irritability which causes “spells of prolonged crying during which he cannot be comforted”.

Despite the catastrophic consequences and the fact the little boy may die from the injuries, the judge revealed that both Fultons maintain their protestations of innocence, have shown no remorse and have little to no insight into the consequences for the five-year-old child.

“There are no mitigating factors identifiable in this case,” he told the court, “no remorse has been demonstrated by either defendant, and both defendants still maintain their denial of guilt”.

Judge Irvine said their attitude and actions towards the boy was in “stark contrast” to that displayed by his foster mother who has “devoted her life to P and despite all his problems, has shown the love and care which he clearly deserves”.

While there was no mitigation to be found, the judge said there was a list of aggravating factors, including that the victim was vulnerable and defenceless, he had suffered a “pattern of violence” in the four weeks before the devastating assault, and it was a case of both high harm and high culpability.

Addressing each defendant individually, Judge Irvine told Mrs Fulton: “You failed to protect P, knowing that your husband was quite capable of causing him physical harm, knowing that he was seriously ill, you neglected his well-being, and you did not attempt to obtain medical treatment at yourself for him. Your dereliction of duty and care to pay was unforgivable.”

As Mr Fulton stood in the dock, the judge told him: “You failed to get medical treatment for P. You inflicted the life-threatening injury sustained by P and the resulting devastation to his life, you displayed aggressive behaviour towards him before these dreadful events occurred, and even after the assault took place, you displayed a total disregard for his well-being.”

“You may be taken down,” declared the judge as he concluded the hearing.

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