Father jailed for killing two-month-old Ava Ray
A father who killed his baby daughter in what was described as "a momentary loss of control" has been jailed for seven years.
Joseph Ray admitted violently shaking two-month-old Ava at their flat in Prestonpans, East Lothian, in 2012. The 33-year-old was convicted after a seven-year investigation saw police consult medical experts to determine the exact cause of Ava's death. He was charged with murder but admitted the lesser charge of culpable homicide. Following the child's death, investigators ruled out the possibility that Ava had died from natural causes and concluded she had suffered a head injury as the result of an assault. Ava's mother Lauren Scott told the BBC: "I think it's shocking that he only got seven years after all that time." Ms Scott's father, Richard Scott, added: "The family feels disappointed in it because for eight years we've suffered mentally and physically through this lad telling lies. "He could have admitted it long before this. He's gone about laughing and enjoying himself while my daughter Lauren was suffering. "It's made me, my wife and Lauren ill. I feel like I've done eight years in prison myself." 'Overwhelmed and angry' Ray's defence lawyer Shelagh McCall QC told the High Court in Glasgow that Ray had been woken by Ava crying. He later told social workers of "feeling overwhelmed and angry" and he shook Ava twice, Ms McCall said. She continued: "He still struggles to understand that what he did could have such a catastrophic consequence. "He can't ever make amends for the damage done in a momentary loss of control by an exhausted and inexperienced parent." Ms McCall added the case had taken time to come to court because of "contrasting medical views" - at one point it was thought Ava may have had a problem with blood clotting which could have explained her injuries, she said. Prosecutor Ashley Edwards QC said Ray and Ms Scott - his partner at the time - had arguments mainly over who would do night time feeds. On the day of the child's death, Ms Scott had gone to work at 18:30, the court was told. About 22:50, Ray told a neighbour his daughter was "cold to the touch" and paramedics found her "white in colour, limp and unresponsive". She was taken to Edinburgh's Royal Hospital for Sick Children where she died the next morning. Tests revealed her brain had been starved of oxygen and her death was initially treated as "unascertained". After "various experts" were consulted between 2014 and 2018, it was concluded Ava had died due to a "head injury", Ms Edwards said. Domestic assaults The judge Lady Stacey said the case had been "a terrible tragedy" involving the death of a "much loved child." She told Ray: "As you know, Ava was entitled to look to you for love, affection and support. You failed in that and your failure had terrible consequences. "Ava's life was snuffed out just as it was starting by one of the people she was entitled to rely on. "You have to live with that knowledge for the rest of your days." Ray had no previous convictions at the time of the death but has since been found guilty of two domestic assaults on Ms Scott. The judge said she would have sentenced Ray to eight and a half years had he not pleaded guilty.