Drug addict guilty of murdering 15-month-old baby after sustained campaign of ‘sadistic’ abuse

A former carer who used cocaine has been found guilty of killing his girlfriend’s infant son after a campaign of ‘sadistic’ abuse that included cutting off the boy’s genitals and culminating in him shaking the baby to death.

Drug addict Jake Drummond, 33, who smoked 10 to 15 cannabis joints a day, fatally shook and punched 15-month-old Jacob Lennon early on August 27, 2019, leaving him with a face like a ‘panda,’ Old Bailey heard. .

In the weeks before, Jacob suffered further injuries to his face, body and genitals, while the boy’s mother, 32-year-old Louise Lennon, was unable to stop him, jury was told.

Sick Drummond, who renamed the boy’s bedroom “the torture chamber”, now faces a life sentence.

Five days before the murder, Drummond sent him an ominous message saying he was putting Jacob in the “torture chamber” in reference to his bedroom, jurors heard.

It followed a meme of Hollywood actor Ben Stiller in the movie Happy Gilmore with the quote: “Now you’ll go to sleep or I’ll put you to sleep.”

In another message, Lennon referred to Jacob as “a little crazy” because of his bruises.

The couple had denied any wrongdoing and blamed each other for Jacob’s horrific injuries.

After a trial at the Old Bailey, Drummond was found guilty of murder and wounding Jacob with intent.

Lennon, 32, was found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child after previously admitting to child cruelty.

The court heard how social services had placed Jacob under a child protection scheme under the category of emotional abuse in December 2018.

But on August 20, 2019, Lennon lied to the social worker by telling her he was vacationing in Hastings to skip a planned visit.

Meanwhile, Drummond had already embarked on ‘a campaign to deliberately assault and injure Jacob’, prosecutor Sally O’Neill KC said.

Drummond was frustrated that Jacob stayed in bed with him and Lennon instead of his cot while the defendant battled insomnia due to his cocaine addiction.

The day before the fatal attack, Drummond was also angry at having to go to a police station after an ex-girlfriend accused him of harassing her in a way that was “little less obsessive.”

Early the next day, Jacob was dragged out of bed and shaken and beaten so severely that he fell unconscious, jurors were told.

Subsequently, Lennon made up a story for the emergency services that Jacob had fallen off his cot.

She also claimed that he had tripped on his way from a supermarket back to his flat in Roehampton, southwest London, days earlier.

Doctors found that Jacob’s eyes were so swollen they couldn’t be opened and that he “looked like a panda”.

He had more bruises on his forehead, temples and cheeks and his skull was described as soft and spongy.

Jacob, who was later found to have traces of cocaine in his body, was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead just over an hour later.

A post-mortem examination found that he died of a fatal head injury, probably from being struck against a blunt surface while being shaken.

Some of his wounds were inflicted days or weeks before the final assault.

Ms O’Neill told the jury: “There were 20 recent injury marks on Jacob’s head, face and neck, 11 on the upper extremities, seven on the lower extremities and seven on the trunk.”

The pathologist identified a 3cm long ‘open’ cut on Jacob’s penis due to ‘extreme pinching’ or ‘bite’ and a wound to the scrotum.

The prosecutor said: “The injury to the scrotum was a penetrating injury resulting from the penetration of a semi-sharp or sharp object, such as a small bladed weapon, including a spike or the like in the preceding days.”

The injuries to Jacob’s genitalia were said to be “sadistic” and were the subject of Drummond’s injury charge.

A pathologist rejected the claim that the cut could have been caused by a plastic knife themed to the Toy Story ‘Mr Potato Head’.

Drummond denied hurting Jacob and Lennon said her boyfriend was “coercing and threatening” her not to get help for her son.

The court heard that Drummond received a juvenile warning in 2005 for holding a knife to his mother’s throat and a conviction in 2008 for assaulting another ex-girlfriend by pushing her against a wall.

The other ex-partner who was warned not to harass also claimed that he had previously grabbed her by the neck to the point that she nearly passed out, jurors were told.

Earlier in the trial, Lennon sobbed when prosecutor Sally O’Neill showed him photographs she had taken of her son, where his injuries progressively worsened, including severe bruising to his head, a severed lip and the loof of hair that had been removed. . Hair removal cream.

She said she saw some of the wounds on Jacob’s genitals, but she didn’t see the worst wound, a cut.

Ms. O’Neill said she must have seen all the injuries because she regularly changed Jacob’s diaper.

“It’s a horrible, disgusting injury to her 16-month-old baby and she knew the injury was caused by the man she was having a relationship with.”

‘How could that injury have happened in your flat without you knowing?’ asked Mrs. O’Neill.

Lennon said she was asleep.

But you told us you’re a light sleeper. I’m sure you agree that a mother is attuned to her baby’s cries and hears them more than other people.

He agreed that it must have been an excruciatingly painful injury.

“Jacob would have screamed his head off when he got that injury,” said Ms O’Neill.

Lennon said Drummond had pinned her down and assaulted her as their relationship deteriorated, checking her phone late at night and blocking her ex-boyfriends’ numbers.

Ms O’Neill previously told jury: “Jake Drummond had embarked on a campaign of deliberately assaulting and injuring Jacob between July and late August.”

‘The injuries it caused were obvious and notorious.

‘Lucy Lennon tried to explain them away by inventing accidental causes for them when it must have been obvious to her that it was Jake Drummond who was causing them.

‘Their eyes were so swollen they couldn’t open them. Under her eyes it was so dark she looked like a panda.

‘The injury to the scrotum was a penetrating injury resulting from the penetration of a semi-sharp or sharp object, such as a small bladed weapon, including a spike or the like in the preceding days.

‘The injury to Jacob’s penis and scrotum in particular caused by a sharp instrument was sadistic in its cruelty and must have caused Jacob great pain.

“Louise Lennon was more concerned with maintaining her relationship with Jake Drummond than with protecting her young son from him, even though it became clear to her that Jake didn’t like Jacob’s growing and inexplicable injuries.”

The jury deliberated for two days to find the couple guilty of the charges against them.

Drummond denied this, but was found guilty of murder and intentional battery.

Lennon denied but was found guilty of causing or permitting the death of a child.

She admitted child cruelty.

Judge Sweeting adjourned sentencing until April 24 for reports to be prepared.

Thanking the jury, the chief judge said, “It’s been a difficult case, I know, with a lot of harrowing evidence for you to hear.”