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- Feb 12, 2007
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Baby Video Torture Killer An 'Evil Monster'
The parents of a baby who was filmed on a mobile phone while he was tortured have branded their son's killer an "evil monster".
The jury did not accept Newton's claim he took no pleasure in the attacks
Darren Newton took mobile phone videos of himself slapping and harming Charlie Hunt, the 15-month-old baby of his then partner, Laura Chapman.
The 32-year-old from Earby, Lancashire, was found guilty of the child's murder at Manchester Crown Court and sentenced to life in prison.
Ms Chapman split up with Charlie's father, Richard Hunt, 44, when her child was four months old.
And the 30-year-old, who had to relive her child's agony in court by watching the graphic videos her former partner had secretly taken, said: "I hate him, I hope he rots in hell.
"I was hysterical when I had to watch the videos - I was disgusted.
"It was extremely difficult to watch them - to see someone you love that much get hurt by someone that you trusted.
"I felt horrible for months because Charlie must have been thinking 'where's Mummy?' because we were so close, 'where's my mummy while this is happening to me?'
"Any mother could imagine how hard it is to see their son in that much pain.
"If I'd had any suspicions about what had been going on... I'd have killed Darren."
Charlie's father, Richard Hunt added: "He was a cheeky little monkey, always laughing with a cheeky smile. That's how I want to remember him.
"Now he's been taken away by a sick monster.
"I had to walk out of court. I couldn't handle hearing my boy crying like that, he was crying for help and there was no-one there to help him."
The attacks began last June, when Charlie was barely a year old, with Newton gradually hitting the child harder and harder, until his death six months later.
A series of videos included one that showed Newton slapping the child on the head 13 times in a prolonged attack as Charlie screams and cried in agony.
The attacks on Charlie Hunt took place over a five-month period
On November 19 last year, Newton finished his shift at a local factory and was home at 2.30pm.
Three hours later Charlie was dead, after a final assault from Newton.
Doctors noticed bruises on the baby's right eyelid, right cheek and right big toe.
Jailing Newton for life, with a minimum term of 24 years before parole, Mr Justice Stephen Irwin told him: "It was spiteful and cruel behaviour. It was also inexplicable to any normal way of thinking.
"It was a series of repeated acts of cruelty for no obvious motive other than the wish to be cruel.
"Anyone who watches the video clips of some of what you did - and I'm convinced you recorded only some of what you did - will genuinely struggle to understand why you came to do this."
source: Skynews
