A man who murdered his girlfriend’s young son after a campaign of “sadistic” and “cruel” abuse has been jailed for 32 years.
Drug addict Jake Drummond, 33, fatally shook and hit 15-month-old Jacob Lennon early on August 27 2019, leaving him with a face like a “panda”, the Old Bailey heard.
A senior Met Police officer described it as one of the saddest cases he had witnessed in his 30-year career, saying it was “distressing and emotional” for all those involved.
In the weeks before he was killed, Jacob suffered yet more injuries to his face, body and genitals while the boy’s mother Louise Lennon, 32, failed to stop it, jurors were told.
A pathologist identified a “gaping” 3cm long cut to Jacob’s penis from “extreme pinching” or “biting” and a wound to his scrotum.
Lennon was sentenced to 10 years in prison for allowing her boyfriend to kill her baby.
In a televised sentencing at the Old Bailey on Friday afternoon, the senior judge said Drummond was “emotionally volatile” which was made worse by his drug use.
He rejected Lennon’s claim that she was coercively controlled by her boyfriend, saying she had prioritised her relationship over her son’s welfare.
The judge said photographs taken by Lennon of Jacob’s injuries were “truly shocking” and noted one of her friends had described his head as looking like a “basketball”.
Mr Sweeting dismissed the couple’s claims that Jacob had fallen out of his cot as “clearly a lie”.
The injuries to Jacob’s genitals were said to be “sadistic” and were the subject of Drummond’s wounding charge.
The pathologist rejected a claim that the cut could have been caused by a Toy Story-themed “Mr Potato Head” plastic knife.
Jacob was taken out of bed and shaken and hit so severely that he fell unconscious.
Five days before the killing, Drummond, a former caretaker, sent Lennon a sinister message saying he was putting Jacob into the “torture chamber” in reference to his bedroom, jurors heard.
It followed a meme of the Hollywood actor Ben Stiller in the film Happy Gilmore with the quote: “Now you will go to sleep or I will put you to sleep.”
In another message, Lennon referred to Jacob as looking like “a little madman” because of his bruises.
The pair had denied wrongdoing and blamed each other for Jacob’s horrific injuries.
Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Jolley, of Scotland Yard, said it was the saddest case of his 30-year career, and "distressing and emotional" for all those involved.
He said what Jacob suffered was "truly awful and cruel" with the fatal head injury likened to being dropped from a first floor building.
"There were over 20 individual injuries to his body at the time of his death.
"One of the most significant injuries was the injury to his genitalia, which was cruel and sadistic in its own right," Mr Jolley said.
He added that the defendants were "quite despicable" as they joked about Jacob’s suffering in messages punctuated by laughing emojis.
Five days before the killing, former caretaker Drummond told Lennon he was putting Jacob into the "torture chamber" in reference to his bedroom.
Social Services had placed Jacob under a child protection plan under the category of emotional abuse in December 2018 and the case had been downgraded to the lowest category a month before his death.
On August 20 2019 Lennon lied to a social worker by saying she was on holiday in Hastings to skip a planned visit.
By then, Drummond had already embarked on "a campaign of deliberately assaulting and hurting Jacob", prosecutor Sally O’Neill KC had said.
Drummond was said to be frustrated at Jacob staying in bed with him and Lennon rather than his cot.
On the day before the fatal attack, he was further angered at having to go to a police station after a former girlfriend accused him of harassing her in a way that was "little short of obsessive".
Early the next day, Jacob was taken out of bed and shaken and hit so severely he fell unconscious.
Medics found Jacob’s eyes were so swollen they could not open and he "looked like a panda" and he died shortly after being taken to hospital.
A post-mortem examination found he died from a fatal head injury, likely from being hit against a blunt surface while being shaken, as well as 20 marks of recent injury.
In their trial, Drummond denied responsibility for Jacob’s injuries and Lennon claimed she was "coerced and threatened".
Her barrister Jane Bickerstaff KC said she had been "deceived" by the men in her life and was a victim of Drummond’s "violent and sadistic" behaviour.
Ms Bickerstaff said Lennon had been "extremely fearful" that Social Services would see Jacob’s bruises and her case be "re-categorised" after being downgraded on July 29 as a result of her efforts.
Mitigating for Drummond, Anne Whyte KC said he had "anger management problems" but there was no evidence of "gratification or glee" at harming Jacob.
Drummond had previous convictions for having drugs, holding a knife against his mother’s throat and assaulting an ex-girlfriend by pushing her against a wall.
