A BABY-SITTER who killed a four-week-old boy by slamming him against a bed and shaking him because he was crying was jailed for just three years yesterday.

Uproar broke out as John Jeacock, 24, who admitted the manslaughter of tot Harvey Jackson, was told he would be free in less than 15 months.

Judge Gerald Gordon QC said: It is inevitable that any sentence will be seen by the family as grossly inadequate to reflect the young life that has been lost.

However difficult it may be for the family to accept it, I am just not here to reflect that loss in years. It is not possible. I have to pass sentence according to law.

The judge ordered the public gallery at the Old Bailey in London to be cleared after shouts and screams of protest.

One man yelled: You call that justice justice for who? Harveys dad Darren Jackson, 23, shouted: You scum, Jeacock.



Judge Gordon ... cleared court

The babys mother Maxine McInerney, 23, said later that Jeacock father of her sister Amandas child Jessica had betrayed her.


Jeacock was left to care for Harvey and Jessica while Maxine and Amanda enjoyed a Mothers Day treat at a health spa. But Harvey began to cry and Jeacock had a sudden loss of temper.

Zoe Johnson, prosecuting, said he picked up the tot by gripping him violently under the armpits leaving bruised imprints of his fingers. Then he slammed Harvey down on to a bed causing the head to lurch backwards.

Jeacock grabbed the baby again and roughly shook him like a rag doll. Bruises were found on Harveys buttocks and several areas around the trunk area.

The fatal injury was due to the brain coming into contact with the skull, causing swelling and brain damage.



Jeacock dialled 999 and told paramedics he had bathed Harvey and fed him half an hour earlier and gone to look after Jessica but then found Harvey with breathing problems.

When Harvey arrived at hospital he was unable to breathe on his own. He died four days later.

In a statement read out in court Mr Jackson said the birth of Harvey, his first child, had been the happiest day of his life.

He added: I envisaged all the things I would do with my son. Little did I know that in a month I would be asked my permission to turn off his life-support machine.

Jeacock admitted the killing at an earlier hearing.

He cl**tched a bible and wore an NSPCC Stop Child Cruelty badge on his lapel as he was given bail so he could attend Christmas parties.

Yesterday Jeacock, of Rainham, Essex, was told he will serve half of his sentence, minus 101 days already spent in prison.
He is banned from working with children.