Amina-Faye Johnson: Parents of baby who died with 65 broken bones jailed

A couple have been jailed over the death of their eight-week old baby who died in south London with more than 60 broken bones in her body.

Amina-Faye Johnson suffered 41 fractures to her ribs and 24 more to other limbs during "continued physical abuse", police said.

Naomi Johnson and Benjamin O'Shea claimed paramedics caused the injuries.

But following a trial, the pair were found guilty of causing or allowing her to suffer physical harm.

O'Shea, 26, of Southwark, was sentenced to eight and a half years, while Johnson, 24, of Battersea, was jailed for seven years.

Both of them were also sentenced to another two months each, to be served consecutively, after being found guilty of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 in relation to a separate child.

Sentencing the couple at Inner London Crown Court, judge Nigel Peters QC described the case as "harrowing".

"There is no doubt that this is a case of the highest seriousness in terms of cruelty to children in terms of the injuries," he said.

Medics could not establish a cause of death of "this poor child" and it was not possible to lay blame on which parent caused the fatal injuries and who stood back and allowed it to happen, the court heard.

The judge added that medical experts had found that the injuries were non-accidental and force had needed to be applied to cause them.

Amina-Faye had suffered "deliberate, vicious injuries", with the worst to her right thigh bone, which could "only have been caused by a brutal attack".

"The femur is not easy to break and significant force was used to fracture it," the judge said.

The jury heard how Johnson and O'Shea called 999 on the morning of 26 April 2019 after Amina-Faye stopped breathing. Despite paramedics arriving within minutes, she died at the scene.

There were no outwardly visible signs of injury and Amina-Faye was originally thought to have suffered a sudden unexplained death, police said, before X-rays showed she had suffered a catalogue of wounds.

Some had been inflicted recently and others had started to heal.

Det Insp Melanie Pressley, who led the investigation, described the case as "truly heart-breaking".

After sentencing, she said: "Children depend on adults and the children in this case were sorely betrayed by Johnson and O'Shea in the most tragic of ways.

"The trauma Amina endured in her short life is impossible to comprehend. Her injuries are a catalogue of the most despicable abuse."

Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hellobbclondon@bbc.co.uk