Jealous thug beat his girlfriend's baby daughter to death

A jealous thug who killed his girlfriend’s ten-month-old daughter because she met up with an ex-boyfriend has been jailed for life.

Louis Burdett attacked Taliqa Fields, whom he was meant to be babysitting, in a rage within 14 minutes of her mother Zoe Harman calling him to say she was going to McDonald’s with a former boyfriend.

He reportedly grew frustrated because he was interrupted while playing an Xbox game.

Taliqa suffered terrible head injuries and died in hospital the next day.

Sentencing him, High Court Judge Mr Justice Flaux said: 'Within the short time you lived with Zoe she came to rely upon you and trusted you to look after her two children.

'What's clear was you were more interested in playing your games on the Xbox than looking after her children. 'She interrupted your game and she got on your nerves. The catalyst for your violence was shockingly mundane.'

He said Burdett was angry and resentful at being left at home looking after Miss Harman's children while she went out to eat.

'You took out that anger and resentment on the baby, who you accepted, in your evidence, was a sitting target,' he said.

Burdett, who claimed Taliqa had simply stopped breathing and collapsed, denied murder but was found guilty by a jury at Leicester Crown Court.

The jobless 22-year-old was jailed for life, with a recommendation he serve at least 13 years. 

The jury heard how Burdett was looking after Taliqa and her two-year-old brother Daryce at Zoe’s home on July 1 last year when she called at 12:37pm to say she was going to have a burger with an old flame.

By 12:51pm Burdett had dialled 999 to say Taliqa had gone ‘limp’.

Yvonne Coen QC, prosecuting, said: ‘From the defendant’s point of view he was looking after her children whilst she was in town, meeting an ex-boyfriend in McDonald’s.

‘He was, we suggest, quite likely in a rage. He took out his irritation or jealousy on Taliqa and inflicted a serious head injury in what, according to doctors’ opinions, was a sustained assault.

‘The distribution of the injuries suggests she was gripped and shaken and came into contact with a hard surface.

‘She also had a fractured left collarbone. He must have known he’d caused serious harm.’

The court heard Burdett was ‘virtually living’ with Zoe, 24, at her home in Leicester when he agreed to look after her children while she attended a college course.

But she finished early and arranged to meet a former childhood sweetheart she had bumped into on a bus.

However, Ms Coen said that when Zoe called Burdett to tell him of her plans, he seemed ‘grumpy’.

As a result of his attitude, worried Zoe finished her food quickly and returned home to find an ambulance outside her house. She went with her daughter to hospital, where she was put into intensive care.

But the toddler, who suffered swelling and bleeding on the brain, died 24 hours later.