Child neglect couple weep after being jailed.

Byline: By Hannah Davies

A couple have been sentenced to 12 months in prison after being found guilty of child neglect charges.

Paula Coffell and Gary Maughan began sobbing as they were jailed at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday.

Coffell, 31, and Maughan, 26, were found guilty three weeks ago of neglecting their baby daughter Jade in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to her health.

During Christmas week 2002 Jade received multiple injuries, including a fractured skull and leg and five broken ribs.

It was only when a post mortem was carried out when she died that the old fractures were found.

The cause of death could not be found, but it was concluded she died of an infection or sudden infant death syndrome.

Judge John Milford stressed neither Coffell nor Maughan had been found guilty of causing the injuries, but they had ignored them.

Speaking on Jade's broken skull, he said: "It is the sort of fracture one would expect to see after a road traffic accident or if a baby had fallen out of a window. That would have caused substantial injury that would be evident.

"It is a substantial swelling to the head which I'm sure the jury felt should be reported."

The broken ribs were consistent with those caused by a baby being squeezed, but it is unlikely they would have been noticed by anyone apart from the person causing them.

On passing sentence Judge Milford said: "You were both aware of that injury, and when you should have taken the child to hospital you both wilfully did nothing."

Neither Coffell nor Maughan has accepted their guilt of the charges.

The court heard Coffell has a previous good character and Maughan has unrelated previous convictions.

The couple began living together in Felling, Gateshead when Coffell became pregnant with Jade. After the birth they moved to Field Street in Felling.

Midwives and health visitors described the house as untidy, in a state of disarray, with dishes and clothes all over, but there were no concerns for Jade, apart from a bout of colic, for which she was given treatment.

Jade's short life began on October 20, 2002, until her death from natural causes on January 15, 2003.

Earlier this month it took the jury of seven women and five men three hours to find the couple guilty of wilfully neglecting Jade in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to her health.

Coffell and Maughan had been together for three years when Jade died.

Coffell said their relationship "couldn't be better". They rarely drank and didn't take drugs.

The jury also heard from pathologist Dr Peter Cooper, who likened Jade's fractured skull to being dropped from a window or sustained in a road smash.

In his opinion, either the baby's head had been hit against a hard flat surface or something hard and flat had hit the top of her head.

Her broken ribs were probably due to being squeezed abnormally hard and her knee injury was possibly caused by her leg being pulled or twisted.