Childminder jailed for baby killing

12 April 2012

A couple have said they will never forgive the childminder who shook their baby daughter to death in a fit of frustration.

Ruth and Mark Sheppard, mother and father of 11-month-old Maeve, spoke out as Keran Henderson, 42, was beginning a three-year jail sentence for their daughter's manslaughter.

Henderson - who had appeared "trustworthy" to the Sheppards - was in sole charge of Maeve when she "snapped" and killed her.

A jury at Reading Crown Court convicted the mother of two of manslaughter by a majority of 10 to two after deliberating for more than 12 hours at the end of a five-week trial.

The Sheppards said in a joint statement: "We will never be able to forgive this woman for what she took away from us."

On the morning of March 2 2005, emergency services were called and Maeve was rushed to hospital. Doctors fought to save her but her condition deteriorated. Her life support machine was turned off two days later following a short Christening ceremony.

Mrs Sheppard wrote a victim impact statement, which the judge asked her not to read out to the court for fear of further unrest in the public gallery from Henderson's family, who reacted angrily to the jury's verdict.

In the statement, obtained after the case, Mrs Sheppard said: "Keran Henderson not only took my daughter's life away, but she took away our right as her parents to grieve her, to mourn her, to think and remember her in any other way than with pain and anguish. She also took away our right to say goodbye to Maeve."

During the trial 12 medical experts for the Crown claimed the injuries Maeve suffered could only have been caused by violent shaking.

But Henderson, who had seven years' experience as a childminder and was also a Beaver Scout leader, claimed Maeve had a seizure while she was changing her nappy.

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