A mother and stepfather accused of murdering their baby son subjected him to “repeated physical abuse” over a six-month period prior to his death, a court has heard.

Jacob Crouch was 10 months old when he was pronounced dead in his cot at home in Linton, near Swadlincote in Derbyshire, as a result of peritonitis – an infection of the lining of abdominal organs caused by a traumatic bowel injury.

Jacob was found to have 39 rib fractures and 19 visible bruises at the time of his death, on 30 December 2020.

His mother, Gemma Barton, 33, and stepfather, Craig Crouch, 39, are standing trial at Derby Crown Court for murder and child cruelty offences, which they deny.

The couple are said to have “encouraged and applauded each other” as they assaulted Jacob “on a regular basis”, the prosecution told the court.

Texts shown to the court showed the pair apparently referring to Jacob as the “devil” and revealed how they allegedly fed him his own vomit.

They also discussed bathing him in bleach and would smack him if he “cried for no reason”, jurors were told.

In June 2020, Crouch told Barton she needed to be “more regimental” with the infant in a bid to “not let this take over us”, prosecutors said.

Fatal injuries likely to have been caused by ‘kick, stamp or punch’

Giving evidence, consultant paediatrician Dr Sarah Dixon said the peritonitis was likely to have been “inflicted” by “kick, stamp or punch”.

She told the jury it was “not remotely” possible the injuries were caused by Jacob playing.

Barton, as well as people observing proceedings in the public gallery, sobbed as Dr Dixon revealed her findings to the court, while Crouch remained silent in the dock.

Dr Dixon told the court: “Jacob suffered repeated physical abuse over a six-month period resulting in bruises to the face and body and many broken ribs.

“In my opinion, many of the bruises present at the time of death were inflicted injuries.”

Baby boy ‘would have survived’ with treatment

Jacob, who was last known to be well a day before his death on 29 December 2020, “suffered inflicted blunt force trauma to the abdomen, perforating his bowel and causing internal bleeding,” Dr Dixon said.

The symptoms of peritonitis are “not subtle” and would “undoubtedly have been present and obvious” in the hours before his death, she added.

According to the NHS website, signs of the condition can include sudden tummy pain that gets worse with movement, a fever, rapid heartbeat and struggling to urinate.

The infection would have caused the infant’s body to shut down within hours or at most, a “small number of days”, forensic pathologist, Dr Michael Biggs, earlier told the court.

But had he been taken to hospital, “in all likelihood he would have survived”, jurors heard.

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Jurors were also shown text messages from Barton to Crouch in October 2020 claiming the infant “gets bruises all the time”.

But Dr Dixon said many of Jacob’s bruises, seen from July 2020, were the result of “inflicted injury” and were “non-accidental”.

Marks on his face and hip – seen in pictures shown to the jury – could be explained by pinching or grabbing, while bruises on his chest were likely caused by “forceful squeezing” of his ribs.

Barton, of Heanor, Derbyshire and Crouch, of Moira, Swadlincote, both deny murder, causing or allowing the death of a child, causing a child to suffer serious physical harm and three further counts of child cruelty.

The trial continues.

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