Baby Died After TV Fell On Him

Baby Died After TV Fell On Him

A man has been jailed after admitting to neglecting his four-month-old son who died after a television set was knocked on to him.

Kian McMillan suffered a brain injury and died the day after the incident in Burnley in December 2011.

While his father was passed out from drink and drugs on the kitchen floor, his mum, Natalie McMillan, 25, who had also been taking drugs and drinking, knocked a TV set on to Kian as she tried to connect a scart lead.

She was cleared of manslaughter but admitted child neglect at an earlier hearing and was jailed for 15 months in January.

Edward Hanratty, 41, admitted child neglect, but failed to appear at Preston Crown Court for sentencing in January claiming he could not afford the train fare. He was subsequently arrested in West Yorkshire in February, and jailed at Preston yesterday.

He was given a 10 month term for Kian's death and three years for conning a 91-year-old man out of his life savings in order to feed his drug addiction.

The BBC reports that Recorder of Preston, Judge Anthony Russell QC, told Hanratty: "It was abundantly clear that you and your partner were in no fit state to look after your child that night.

"Over the short life of your child you gave priority to yourself and your self-indulgent drugs lifestyle and neglected the life of Kian.

"You must bear some responsibility for the death because you were the father of Kian. You failed lamentably. You should have protected Kian from his mother's neglect."

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