[Smithy]

A “loving” father faces a potential death sentence after being accused of murdering his 22-month-old son by deliberately leaving him strapped in the back of his car and baking him to death.

Justin Ross Harris told police he had forgotten to take Cooper to day care - instead accidentally leaving him buckled in his car seat while he went to work. But police have charged the 33-year-old with murder after discovering he previously carried out internet searches on ways to kill a child and advice on how to survive life in prison.

Since his arrest, the story has gripped America but yesterday the case took an astonishing twist after a court heard more details about the father-of-one’s secret double life. Cooper was left in the car for more than seven hours enduring heat in excess of 36c on June 18 in Atlanta, Georgia.

The father had earlier been for breakfast with his son leaving the restaurant at 9.19am before then locking him inside just six minutes later as he started his shift at DIY chain Home Depot’s administrative offices. Police told the court Cooper’s rear facing child seat was in the middle of the back seat of Harris’s Hyundai Tucson, a small SUV, which was only about “six inches from his head” as he drove. Harris returned to the car at lunchtime to place a bag of light bulbs he had just purchased inside, before going back into his workplace. However despite opening the front door he claims he still did not realise his son was inside.

On Thursday, a judge heard the probable cause case against Harris during which it was it was revealed he and his wife Leanna were struggling financially. Cobb County Chief Magistrate Frank Cox was told the couple had taken out two life insurance policies on their son, one for $25,000 (£14,500)and the other more recently for $2,000 (£1,170).

However, the packed courtroom was left aghast when details of Harris’s personal were laid bare. Detective Phil Stoddard revealed the dad, who sat in the court shackled in an orange prison jump suit, had been found sexting six women , including a teenager, sending and receiving explicit texts - some including nude images - from work while Cooper lay dying in the car.

Leanna had told police as well as suffering money issues due to her husband’s spending they were also no longer intimate. Although she has not been charged with any offence her behaviour has also been questioned by police. She had gone to pick up their son at day care but was told by workers her husband had never dropped the boy off.

Upon hearing this, police said, Leanna became calm and said her husband “must have left him in the car.” After Harris has been questioned at the police station investigators say she asked her husband: “Did you say too much?”

However, the most damming claims by police involved Harris’s use of the internet. Before Cooper’s death he had visited the entertainment and news website Reddit visiting one page called “child-free”. It detailed the benefits of living without kids. But five days before their son died, Harris twice viewed a video of a vet demonstrating the dangers of leaving someone or something inside a hot car. He also looked at footage of people dying - by suicide or execution. According to police he later searched for ‘how to survive in prison’, according to searches of his laptop.

Rest of the article: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-n...eaving-3810375


how could someone do that to their own child