Man Shakes Adopted Baby to Death
 

Matthew Scully-Hicks 'murdered' adopted baby after two weeks.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-s...wales-41549969

Sick and shocking, his poor husband.

sCUM!

what a ****

****ing twat

NOT FUNTy

That poor baby, what a life of pain and terror she must have suffered.

Still seething at this the ****ing prick

It's a horrible story and it does make you wonder why there wasn't a stronger support network in place for this baby to make sure she was safe in the home.

Given the previous injuries described in the post-mortem, I can't see any possible way that the partner didn't know or at least suspect that abuse was going on. No way to prove that though, I suppose.

This child really never got a start in life sadly.

Hopefully this guy gets shook up a bit in Prison.

This child really never got a start in life sadly.

Hopefully this guy gets shook up a bit in Prison.

By that I mean some prisoners putting him upside-down.

Awful.Calling a baby psycho should have been a warning to whoever he was texting.

The child had been injured before and he had no concerns - his innocence is questionable at this point.

The medical staff believed his stories about the child's injuries. His partner also believed what he was told about the child's injuries and that belief was backed up by knowing the medical staff thought these injuries were accidental.

How do we know he wasn't concerned?

Some people dont realise just how testing a crying baby can be. Some mothers snap and hurt thwir children. This guy and his husband will have gone through very stringent checks and procedures before being approved to adopt but nothing will ever prepare you for those first few sleep deprived months. I am in no way condoning what he has done....it is sick but I cant see that saying they have been though the adoption process to prove they could is in any way justified. Poor little girl....terrible start and terrible end to life

I would love to know how and if they test for anger management issues.

Like what do you do if you stub your toe?

This.
If anything the fact they had just completed adoption procedures kind of makes it more likely this guy snapped in a way he never has before.

A tragedy that, unfortunately, can't always be foreseen.

Does that cover the previous injuries as well?

I think the fact that it happened more than once suggests otherwise. There is a Hugh difference between ‘snapping’ and torturing and brutally murdering a defenceless toddler. You walk away, you don’t act on your frustrations, he was hardly a naive teenager.

Previous injuries.... after they'd adopted the girl?

Re-read my post.

The way he's treated this little girl might be the first incident of him ever doing something like this. Hence his partner maybe not suspecting him (although I always question cases like this where they live in the same house bringing a child up together but whatever) and also hence him passing all of the adoption procedures.

Mr Lewis told the jury about a catalogue of injuries Elsie had suffered during her short life.

In November 2015, two months after she had been taken in by the couple, she had fractured her ankle while in the sole care of the defendant, who had given differing accounts of how she had suffered the injury.

A month later she sustained a bruise to her forehead which a health visitor advised needed treating. Matthew Scully-Hicks allegedly lied he had done so, the jury heard.

'Going through hell'

In January, Elsie suffered another bruise on her head and in March she was taken to hospital by ambulance after Matthew Scully-Hicks said she had fallen down the stairs.

She was discharged from hospital after four hours after her injuries were considered "consistent with a fall downstairs".

The jury were read a series of text messages the defendant allegedly sent to friends. One described the baby as a "psycho".

One read: "I'm going through hell with Elsie. Mealtimes and bedtimes are like my worst nightmare at the minute."

Another said: "She has just screamed non stop for 10 minutes. She had a full bottle and clean nappy. Literally not even half an hour and she is a psycho."




All that was before they had been allowed to officially adopt the child, yet they still passed...WTF

The most likely scenario is, they were both deemed suitable to adopt. They both jumped through all the rigorous hoops to finalize that adoption and they both very much looked forward to having a child of their own.

Blood parents are known to hurt and even kill their children. In most circumstances of parental abuse, it was never planned or even considered, but something that started to happen soon or long after that child's birth. I doubt this was premeditated but something that happened in the heat of the moment.

I'm not sure why you've felt the need to copy and paste all of that.

My post was clearly referring to the fact that it's likely he may not have ever done anything like this before in his life prior to taking in this child. Hence Annie mentioning him clearly not being prepared for the hard work involved in caring for a baby. Not as an excuse for his behaviour, but maybe to explain how this has suddenly come out of him when he likely hadn't behaved in this way before.

The question of how and why these injuries went under the radar and were classed as accidents rather than the abuse it was therefore not affecting the official adoption is a question I couldn't begin to answer and is clearly a fault that needs serious investigation.

My original point was to point out things like this don't just happen when it's been long pre-planned or by people who are prone yo enjoying and inflicting this abuse on numerous victims.
I assume that's where your comments about paedophiles adopting children came from. The idea that things like this are always pre-planned and carried out by completely psychopathic people. It's not always the case.

Who are these morons passing someone when a hint is even there that ther is a small chance that the child may be being physically abused.

The child barely crawling fell down the stairs..hurt wrist...bruised forehead...all before the official adoption and nobody thought that there was even a glimmer if a chance something was amiss..then the fractured ribs and head injury prior to the tragic death.


Both guilty. As are the local adoption agency and they all have this childs blood on there hands.

It does remind me of the Baby P incident and it's shocking lessons haven't been learned.

Mistakes happen and people slip through the net. It would be naive to think anyone and everyone can be caught. But the fact that numerous trips to the hospital with such shocking injuries were overlooked is baffling.

I doubt it is, but maybe all the health visitors etc were taken in by the novelty of it all...:shrug:

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, babies are slippery little buggers and quite often things happen. When my son was 18 months old I was running downstairs with him on my hip, tripped over my own feet and.put my arms out to catch myself...dropping my son. I took him to hospital and.after a bit of.observation he was discharged. A week later he was in the bath and I noticed a lump on his shoulder. It turned out he broke his collar bone in the fall but as childrens bones are so pliable at that age it wasnt picked up till it started to heal....after the fall he was a bit stiff and I kept adking him to do "so big" to move it which obviously with a broken collar bone was probavky painful but he did it. What im trying to say iss accidents happen and medical professionals are not infallible so to place blame is a tough one other than at the door of the man who ultimately took this little girls life, whatever the circumstances, this child has lost her life and her future..getting hung up on his sexuality is pointless. He has taken the life of a child and should pay the price with a hefty prison sentance

This is incredibly sad, poor little thing must have been in so much pain.

The guy is scum and I hope he get's what he deserves.

Oh that’s alright then. He just killed the child in the heat of the moment. Poor man, how he must have suffered. Perhaps he should be given another child as it may not have been premeditated. God forbid.

She didn't say that fgs. The point is when a baby is killed like this by shaking, its usually a heat of the moment angry reaction to the baby crying etc, where a parent/nanny whatever just loses it, he's still a **** though

Not what she said.
She was clearly counter pointing what you said about the possibility of it being premeditated. No excuses. Just the fact that crimes like this are normally not pre-planned.

HE had hurt the child before and referred to her as ‘satan’ and the ‘devil’ so not exactly spur of the moment.

Not exactly damning evidence that his crimes were entirely pre planned.

That still doesn't make what you said about DRs post right. You pretty much implied because she thought that it wasn't pre meditated that she had sympathy for a man who killed a baby, that's quite low imo

Her point wasn't as an excuse or to lessen the actions of this man. The point is that a lot of people seem to think that this would have been avoided "with better checks", as though there "must" have been some sign that he would do this if the people doing the checks were "better at their jobs" or "had tougher criteria". But that's rarely the case. People who pass every check going with flying colours, and seem like normal and completely non-violent people, can "turn" and commit horrible crimes.

You seem to think that there's "something that can be changed" (not allowing gay people to adopt at all, probably) that would stop things like this happening when in reality, it could be the person you least expect who commits a crime like this, and there is no such thing as a foolproof system of checks.

It may not be exactly have been pre-planned but demonstrated a worrying pattern of behaviour. If the poor child had not died it would likely have happened again.

Pre-meditated or not most people do not commit such a crime. There must have been signs of violence in his behaviour at some point in his past that was probably ignored or excuses made for him.

But there's also a first time for everything so not necessarily so.