Judge says injuries were “catastrophic” and warns offender will remain a danger to children for the rest of his life

A MAN has been jailed for life after being convicted of a series of violent and sexual offences against a baby aged no more than ten weeks, in what the judge described as the most distressing case he had encountered in more than 40 years in the Crown Courts.

Christopher Phillips was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court today (Friday, January 16) after a contested trial in which he denied the allegations before being convicted by a jury.

Passing sentence, the judge said the baby’s injuries were so severe that, if the anal tear had not been caused by penetration, it would have been comparable to a child being “hit by a bus.” The court heard the baby required morphine on two occasions, something a highly experienced paediatrician said she had only administered to a baby fewer than six times in her career.

The judge told Phillips: “That utterly defenceless baby had his bottom ripped open to satisfy your grotesque sexual perversion.”

Phillips was sentenced to life imprisonment on two counts of assault by penetration of a child under 13, relating to injuries described in evidence as a healed injury and a later, catastrophic injury.

The court also heard Phillips had caused multiple fractured ribs and bleeding on the baby’s brain, and had inflicted bruising to the child’s testicle.

The judge said the expert medical evidence showed the rib injuries were of a severity not usually seen even when CPR had been performed, and that even chest compressions — which compress the chest by around 30 per cent — would not normally cause injuries of the scale found in the baby.

‘Actively looking for a baby’

In a detailed sentencing statement, the judge said he had reached a series of conclusions about the offending and Phillips’ behaviour.

He told the court he believed Phillips was “actively looking for a baby” to sexually abuse and penetrate, and that he had used the dating app Tinder with that aim.

The judge said Phillips chose the baby’s mother because her profile photograph showed her with a baby who was around a month old, and that he quickly recognised her vulnerability and “cynically exploited it.”

The court heard Phillips was critical and disparaging towards the child’s mother, with the judge stating he was not attracted to her and was motivated instead by access to the baby.

The judge said Phillips “did your best to gain unfettered access” to the child and had pestered and cajoled the mother to leave the baby alone with him.

He told Phillips that had the mother left the baby alone with him as he had urged, “it is impossible to imagine what worse injury you could have inflicted.”

‘Plan B is as unconvincing as Plan A’

The court heard that Phillips made no admissions in interview and sought to blame others, with the baby’s father arrested at the outset of the investigation.

The judge said Phillips had pointed the finger of blame at the father, the mother stood trial alongside him, and that Phillips tried to blame them during the proceedings “to save your own skin.”

The judge said Phillips’ admission of responsibility came only after a three-week trial and guilty verdicts, and rejected suggestions that his actions were the result of substance use.

He told Phillips he was functioning normally at the time, holding down a job, and said claims about drugs were a further attempt to avoid the consequences, describing them as “Plan B” — and adding that it was “as convincing as Plan A was.”

The judge also said Phillips had still not revealed what was used to penetrate the baby, but indicated he considered it “very probable” that Phillips had used his penis, while acknowledging he could not be sure.

Victim impact statements

The court heard powerful victim impact statements from the baby’s family, describing the wider devastation caused by the offending, the trauma of the father being arrested and treated as a suspect, and the impact of the child spending almost a year in foster care during family court proceedings.

The father told the court he still lives with post-traumatic stress disorder and is now faced with the question of how and when to explain to his son what happened to him as a baby.

Life sentence imposed

The judge said he was required to consider the principle of totality and whether the public could be adequately protected by a determinate or extended sentence.

He said that if he had imposed a determinate sentence, it would have been one of 25 years, but concluded a life sentence was necessary due to the seriousness and the ongoing risk posed by Phillips.

He told Phillips he considered the depth of his sexual depravity, planning, opportunism and ruthlessness meant he would remain a danger to children “for the rest of your life,” and said he did not believe the risk would reduce to an acceptable level “within the next 50 years.”

Phillips was sentenced to life imprisonment on each of counts nine and 10, with other sentences imposed concurrently: five years on count five, seven years on count seven, and three years on count 11.

The judge set a minimum term based on a 25-year notional sentence, meaning Phillips will not be eligible to be considered for release for 16 years and 25 days. The judge stressed that this does not mean he will be released at that time, and said he may spend the rest of his life in prison.

Phillips will also be subject to indefinite sex offender notification requirements and was ordered to pay a surcharge within three months of his release.