A FATHER who dropped his three-year-old daughter from a 40ft bridge in a drug-induced psychotic state has been jailed for 14 years.

Damien Smith, aged 40, was given the sentence at Manchester Crown Court yesterday, after being found guilty of intentionally causing the girl grievous bodily harm.

Smith was ranting about aliens before the incident and then started dangling his daughter over Eagley Brook, in Crompton Way, at around 8.20pm on September 29 last year.

Sentencing, Mr Justice William Davis said: "You put a three-year-old child, your own daughter, through a terrifying ordeal. You did it because you had taken amphetamines to excess over a period of weeks and as a result, you were in a psychotic state.

"There's no question at all about that, but that psychotic state was entirely self-induced."

The court heard that Smith had held the girl over the bridge in her pushchair and told her to shut up when she cried and pleaded "don't drop me".

Fortunately, the three-year-old only suffered a fractured shoulder and wrist, although the judge said this was thanks to the work of police officers who waited on the bank of the river below.

After letting his daughter fall, Smith proceeded to drop into the river, sustaining a head injury.

The judge told the defendant that his acts could not have been "on the spur of the moment" because of the hour-and-a-half time period in which he argued with police and onlookers.

He added: "This was sustained attack on her."

However, the judge went on to say that Smith did not present a "significant risk" of repeating his actions.

At yesterday's sentencing, Mr Adam Lodge, defending, said the girl's injuries were not serious and told the court that there was "no suggestion" that Smith would ordinarily want to hurt his children.

Prosecutor Vanessa Thompson pointed to two previous convictions in which the defendant had been found guilty of affray in 2007.

Prosecutors had initially brought a charge of attempted murder against the the man but, after several hours of deliberation at a hearing in April, the defendant was instead found guilty of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm.

The court also heard how Smith had been acting strangely in the weeks running up to the incident and it was later discovered that he had been taking amphetamines.

He began ranting about aliens and talking to people who were not there, and had also become convinced that a comet might bring about the end of the world.

Smith declined to give evidence in his own defence but previously his partner, Janet Andrews, told the jury he was a "really good father" who was "warm and caring".

Speaking after the sentencing, Det Sgt Joanne Little from Bolton police said: “This was a heart breaking incident and I’m so thankful that the little girl was able to recover from her injuries. The worst case scenario does not bear thinking about.

“I would like to commend actions of the officers involved in the incident. Sometimes we can’t stop individuals from carrying out their threats, on this occasion the officers were left badly affected by what they witnessed, but they did the best they could for the little girl and she was taken to safety before any further harm could come to her.

“My heart breaks when I think of the trauma the little girl went through that evening.

“He will now spend the next 14 years in prison and the rest of his life considering his actions.”