The devastated dad of baby Hunter White - who died when he slipped down the side of a sofa - tearfully told how he had let his son down. Describing tiny Hunter as, "a beautiful little baby", father-of-five Adam White expressed his feelings as a judge gave him a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, over the neglect of his son.
Adam White, a self-employed contracted plumber, refused to discuss the painful details of what happened to his son who was just 18 days old when he died in his care. Nottingham Crown Court heard then a £100-a-week cannabis-user, White, 45, of Foxhill Road East, Carlton, had placed Hunter back in his Moses basket after his night-time feed.
But White, of stocky build, fell asleep with Hunter on the sofa. Hunter fell down the side of the settee and was unable to breathe and died.
Adam White told Nottinghamshire Live: "He was a beautiful little baby...just his dad let him down, didn't he? I have five kids. I remember it all but I don't want to talk about it.
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"I am pleased I am not going to prison. I'm going to go home and have a cup of tea, get work booked in and speak to probation."
White, who has since learned his has sleep apnea and uses a machine to assist him on a daily basis, has to complete 120 hours of unpaid work as part of his punishment and 40 rehabilitation activity days.
Judge Gregory Dickinson QC, the Recorder of Nottingham, told White: "I believe this will haunt you for a very long time. I say that not to be cruel but recognise you have suffered a punishment for an error of wrong-doing which was not deliberate."
White's former partner, drug-using mother Terri Walters, 32, of Kingsway Gardens, Hucknall, had told a probation officer that Adam White was 100% to blame. She had used alcohol and taken cocaine and went to bed - and said that it was White's job to look after Hunter and White's fault she took cocaine.
The Judge gave her a community order for two years and a nine-month drug treatment and testing order and 40 rehabilitation activity days. A former heroin user, Walters declined to comment after the hearing.
Both parents, who admitted cruelty to Hunter by way of neglect, broke down in the dock on Thursday, May 26, as the judge said he was not going to impose an immediate custodial sentence.
Recapping, Judge Dickinson said Hunter was in the day-to-day care of his mother. White lived elsewhere but sometimes stayed overnight and slept separately to Walters.
On July 9, 2020, Walters went to bed, leaving Hunter in the care of his dad. Hunter was to be in a moses basket and White on the settee.
Twice during the night Adam White fed Hunter. On the first occasion he placed him back in his moses basket. On the second, White fell asleep still holding Hunter.
Tragically, Hunter slipped between White and the arm of the chair and could not breathe. He was facedown.
"The tragic fact is, Mr White, that had you returned the baby to the moses basket, Hunter would still be alive, and from your demeanour today and every occasion I have seen you in a courtroom, I think that you think about little else," said the judge.
The court heard neither defendant were accused of causing the death of the child. The prosecution said there is a 'causative link' between the actions and inactions of the defendants.
The neglect related to that one day when Adam White had used cannabis, and, to some extent, was under the influence of it.
"You had drugs in your system when Hunter was in your care," the judge said. But he said he was compelled to conclude that this was a, "brief, single lapse of judgement" - that he fell asleep with Hunter in his arms. "I simply do not know if this was connected to your use of cannabis," added the judge.
"All I know is you should have returned him to his moses basket as you had done earlier in the night,".
Chair of the Nottinghamshire Safeguarding Children Partnership, Rosa Waddingham, said: “Following the sad death of Hunter, the partnership carried out a child safeguarding practice review and we would expect to publish the findings after all connected legal proceedings and any inquest have been completed. It would not be appropriate to comment further while these proceedings are still ongoing.”
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