A FATHER who fractured his baby daughter’s arm has avoided jail after a court heard the injury was not caused deliberately.

Lee Hennessey admitted harming the three-month-old child, claiming he had handled her roughly as he pulled her arm through the sleeve of a jumper.

Bolton Crown Court was told how, on May 27, 2014, Hennessey took his daughter to the GP, who immediately sent the child to hospital, where doctors found she had suffered a spiral fracture of her humerus.

They concluded that the injury would have been caused by a twisting action and could have occurred up to two weeks beforehand.

David Lees, prosecuting, said at the time of the offence Hennessey was living with the child and his wife Louise. The little girl has since been removed from her parents and has been adopted.

When arrested Hennessey, aged 31, of Dickinson Street West, Horwich, initially denied harming the child, but then pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm on the basis that he had been reckless with the infant.

Nicola Gatto, defending, said the case against Hennessey was made by his own previous admissions to a family court about his behaviour.

“He wanted to stress, through me, how terribly sorry he was about committing this offence,” said Miss Gatto.

She added that, at the time, Hennessey was under great pressure and was tired and frustrated by the lack of support he was getting from the child’s mother.

She added that Hennessey had not had good parenting role models himself and at the time of the incident he was working full time as a fabricator as well as trying to refurbish a property for his family to live in.

“He was under a great deal of pressure and, quite frankly, he was exhausted,” she said.

“When he realised, on May 27, that his daughter was having difficulty with her arm he didn’t try and conceal the injury.”

She added that the baby’s mother did not accompany him to the doctors when he sought help and that he is genuinely remorseful.

“He had clearly bonded with this child. When he speaks about this child he becomes highly emotional,” said Miss Gatto.

Sentencing Hennessey, Judge Timothy Stead said that ordinarily someone who has injured a child can expect to be sent to prison immediately.

“Little sympathy should be available for someone who behaves in that way,” said Judge Stead.

“But every case is different on its own facts.”

He told Hennessey: “At the time it’s clear to me you were under very considerable pressures of circumstances - much more than would ordinarily be the case where a working father is doing what he can to care for his infant.

“You had no help, as far as I can see, in carrying out the duties you had to carry out as the father of the child.”

He added that clumsiness or frustration had led Hennessey to handle his daughter roughly.

“This is not a case of a parent launching a spiteful or wanton attack on a child,” said the judge.

Hennessey was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years. He will be subject to nine months supervision and must undertake 100 hours unpaid work.

“If I thought you had acted deliberately, even in a fleeting moment, to injure your own child, this (a suspended prison sentence) would not be happening,” Judge Stead told him.