Stepfather only person who could be responsible for child’s death, mother says

Gemma Barton and Craig Crouch deny murdering 10-month-old Jacob Crouch in December 2020

Jacob Crouch died ‘in his cot, alone’ at his home in Linton, Derbyshire, prosecutors said (Crown Prosecution Service/PA) (PA Media)

A mother accused of murdering her 10-month-old son has told a jury that his stepfather is the only person who could have been responsible.

Gemma Barton wept as she denied killing Jacob Crouch, who was found dead in his cot at his Derbyshire home – and who she described as her “bundle of joy”.

The 33-year-old and her partner, Craig Crouch, both deny murdering the youngster, who was found to have dozens of bruises and internal injuries when he died in December 2020.

Giving evidence for a second day on Wednesday, she was asked by her barrister, Clive Stockwell KC, who could have killed Jacob.

Fighting back tears, she replied: “It was not me so that leaves Craig.”

Barton told Derby Crown Court that she did not inflict the injuries that killed her son, nor did she see them inflicted by anyone else.

She said she had never punched, kicked or jumped on Jacob and had not seen Crouch hurt him at their home in Foxley Chase, Linton, near Swadlincote.

Barton “panicked” when Crouch told her Jacob was dead at around 7am on December 30 2020, and claimed her son was “normal” just two hours earlier.

I panicked. I felt like my whole world had just ended.

Gemma Barton

When asked what happened that morning, she said: “I got woke up to Craig shouting.”

Mr Stockwell asked: “Can you remember what he said?”

She replied: “Gemma, Jacob’s dead.”

Mr Stockwell asked: “What did you do?”

She replied: “I panicked. I felt like my whole world had just ended.”

Mr Stockwell later asked: “What were your thoughts, Ms Barton, at that time?”

She replied: “I was shocked. I could not believe that my little boy had gone.

“He was my bundle of joy. I used to call him my little shadow. Wherever I was, that is where Jacob was.”

After Jacob was pronounced dead by doctors, Barton and Crouch were given some time alone with him in the back of an ambulance, with his mother leaving a teddy bear with her son’s body.

I did not kill my son.

Gemma Barton

She said: “I did not want Jacob to be alone in the ambulance.

“I wanted him to have something of his with him. He is my little boy.”

Mr Stockwell asked: “Did you do that knowing you had killed your son?”

Barton replied: “I did not kill my son.”

Mr Stockwell asked: “Have you ever deliberately harmed Jacob?”

“No,” Barton said.

As well as denying ever harming her son, Barton said she “can’t remember seeing” any of the 19 visible bruises on Jacob’s body at the time of his death.

Prosecutors allege that the bruises, at least 39 rib fractures and perforated bowel suffered by Jacob were the result of a “culture of cruelty” that saw him regularly abused by the two defendants over six months.

The trial previously heard from medical experts that blunt force trauma was the only plausible explanation for the bowel injury, which led to a fatal infection.

The experts said that the injury could not have been self-inflicted and Jacob would have shown clear signs of distress prior to his death.

The fractured ribs, the Crown claims, were caused by “forceful compression” of his ribcage by the defendants.

Texts between Barton and Crouch showed they at one point referred to Jacob as the “devil”, fed him his own vomit, talked about bathing him in bleach and would send him to bed or smack him for “crying for no reason”, jurors were told.

When asked during cross-examination by Crouch’s barrister, Balraj Bhatia KC, whether she had ever smacked Jacob, Barton replied: “I tapped his bum, yes, I wouldn’t say it was a smack.

“I know Craig had done the same as well when Jacob had gone close to a radiator.

“If I picked him up to move him away, I’d just give him a tap on his bum.”

The court had also heard that in June 2020, Crouch – who was listed on Jacob’s birth certificate as his father – told Barton that she needed to be “more regimental” with the youngster to “not let this take over us”.

In a police interview, Barton said she went along with Crouch’s style of parenting because it was “Craig’s way or no way”.

She said on Wednesday that she was “horrified” that she did not intervene, but feared him leaving her after Crouch said he would “have nothing to do with Jacob” if he ended the relationship.

But while Barton said Crouch was the only person who could have killed her son, she claimed to have never seen her partner physically harm Jacob and if she had, she would have reported it to the police and “got out of there”.

Crouch, 39, had said on Tuesday in his evidence that “there was nothing out of the ordinary” in the days and hours prior to Jacob’s death, and that bruising – including those on his face and thighs – had “nothing to do with me”.

Barton, of Ray Street, Heanor, Derbyshire, and Crouch, of Donisthorpe Lane, Moira, Swadlincote, deny murder, causing or allowing the death of a child, causing a child to suffer serious physical harm and three counts of child cruelty.

The trial continues.