Man arrested on motorway after trying to strangle baby in its cot
06.06.2023 - 17:35
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Lewis Prince told lie after lie. Standing in the witness box in court, the 29-year-old from Salford claimed he never put his hands around the neck of a toddler.
He insisted he never intended to harm the small, defenceless child, LancsLive reports. Presenting himself as a hardworking family man, under financial and emotional pressure, Prince told the jury: "I just wasn't thinking straight."
He agreed that strangling or smothering a toddler could only have one intent - but insisted he had not abused the child in that way. The evidence proved otherwise. In the weeks leading up to the attack, Prince said he had been under "so much pressure". Travel costs between Blackpool and Salford were mounting up, along with daily living expenses and repayment for a French Bulldog, which he had bought for £1,200.
READ MORE: Join the FREE Manchester Evening News WhatsApp community
"I work hard for no real reward," Prince told the court. "I was getting into more and more debt. I let it get the better of me. I bottled things up. I was drinking too. I kept it from everybody - I was putting a brave face on it all. I was under immense pressure... pressure bursts pipes."
On one morning in December last year, Prince was asked to keep an eye on the child at a house in Blackpool. He had only been alone with the youngster 15 minutes when his anger and frustration boiled over. As the child cried, Prince launched a sickening attack on the tot, punching, slapping and smothering the defenceless child.
Unaware of what was happening, the child's mum logged onto an app on her phone to allow her to check on her child.
"It's what I always do", she said. "I didn't think anything of it."
But what she saw sickened her upset her so much she immediately