Man found guilty of attempting to murder toddler in Blackpool

A man has been found guilty of attempting to murder a toddler in Blackpool.

At 8.17am on December 7, last year, we were called to the resort following reports a toddler had been assaulted.

A jury at Preston Crown Court heard that the sickening and repeated assault by defendant Lewis Prince in which he slapped and punched the boy was captured in part on film. He was also witnessed strangling and smothering the victim.

Police and paramedics attended the scene and the boy was taken to hospital with a number of injuries including extensive bruising to his face and throat.

Expert medical evidence from the prosecution indicated that the toddler’s injuries were consistent with strangulation, and that the victim was in the penultimate stage of asphyxia.

Prince fled the address before officers arrived and was arrested in a vehicle whilst travelling towards Manchester. He was interviewed by our detectives and denied any wrongdoing.

Following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, 29-year-old Prince, of Browning Road, Swinton, was charged with attempted murder and assault by beating.

During the trial Prince accepted that he had lied in his police interview and he had in fact slapped the toddler to the face and squeezed his cheeks in an attempt to stop him from crying. The defendant denied attempted murder, stating that he at no point strangled nor smothered the victim.

The jury rejected that notion and took around an hour to find Prince unanimously guilty. He had already pleaded guilty to an assault by beating charge, which related to an assault on a woman.

DS Isobel Garratt, of Lancashire Police, said: “The defendant, Lewis Prince, has demonstrated he is a highly dangerous individual. He has, from his arrest through to his trial, failed at every opportunity to understand and take responsibility for the grievous and abhorrent harm which he caused a vulnerable baby in distress. Fortunately, the jury were more than capable of seeing through his lies, and have recognised that when a 29-year-old man strangles and smothers a vulnerable toddler, there is only one thing that he intends.

“This has been an emotive case for everyone involved, where the evidence gathered has been of a harrowing nature. I would commend the jury for their professionalism throughout the trial. Furthermore, I would like to thank the victim’s mother for her assistance throughout the investigation. She has been incredibly brave when faced with tremendously difficult circumstances.

“Fortunately, the toddler has made a full recovery. However, this does not take away from the grave danger in which Lewis Prince placed a vulnerable child.”

Prince will be sentenced at Preston Crown Court on August 4.