FATHER ACCUSED OF MURDERING SON SAYS HE 'COLLIDED WITH COFFEE TABLE'

• Daniel Hardcastle is accused of murdering his two-year-old son Damion Russell

A father accused of murdering his two-year-old son said he found the child on the floor after he 'collided with a coffee table'.

Preston Crown Court heard Damion Russell had been placed in the care of his father, Daniel Hardcastle, by social services. 

But on August 19 last year, Hardcastle said he had been doing chores in the kitchen of his flat in Blackpool when he heard a 'thud'.

Hardcastle, who denies a charge of murder, told the court that Damion was lying face down next to the coffee table and he searched 'how to give CPR' on YouTube after 'seeing blood coming from his mouth.' 

Paramedics later attended the scene after Hardcastle called 999. Damion, who was  in cardiac and respiratory arrest, was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital. He was later transferred to Manchester Children's Hospital on life support but died two days later.

The court heard that Hardcastle discovered he was a dad when the child was taken into the care of Lancashire and Blackpool Social Services. 

The court heard Damion was removed from his mother and placed in the care of foster parents when he was around 10-months-old.

After some digging, social workers suspected Daniel Hardcastle was the father and asked him to undertake a DNA test. 

Jurors heard when the test came back as positive, the 31-year-old said he wanted to rise to the challenge of being a dad and raise the youngster, who was suffering from development delays. 

The family granted parental responsibility to Hardcastle after social workers undertook a five month long assessment.

The court was told social workers had no concerns about the bond between Hardcastle and his son and the case was closed on July 28 last year.

Around three weeks later, on August 19, Hardcastle told the court he got up at around 8am and made breakfast for Damion. 

He then let Damion play while he sorted washing and washed up in the kitchen. 

At 11.05am, Hardcastle carried out three Google searches, asking: 'How long do bruises take to heal?' 

He told the jury they were 'harmless searches' as he was 'scared that people would think the bruises were caused by me'.

When asked by his barrister John Jones KC whether the bruises had been caused by him, he replied: 'No.'

Hardcastle said he then heard a thud and 'instantly stopped everything'. He said Damion was lying face down next to the coffee table. 'He seemed familiar to when he had the convulsion', he said. 'It seemed to be a similar thing but it wasn't because I realised he wasn't conscious very quickly.'

He said Damion had blood coming from his mouth, so he used his pyjamas to wipe his face before administering CPR. 

At 11.06am, he searched YouTube for 'how to give CPR' before calling 999 at 11.09am.

'I realised what I was doing wasn't working,' he said. 'The breathing seemed to go from shallow to not breathing at all, so that is when I phoned the ambulance.'

Ambulance crews contacted the police and reported a young child was in cardiac arrest. Paramedics arrived at the house shortly before the police. 

When officers arrived, Hardcastle began cleaning faeces from the sofa as medics worked on his son. He told the court it was 'just a natural thing to do'.

'If someone comes round to the house - I clean up and try and make the place presentable,' he added. 

Damion was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital in cardiac and respiratory arrest. He was later transferred to Manchester Children's Hospital on life support but died two days later.

Hardcastle was arrested on suspicion of GBH, and later on suspicion of murder, following Damion's death.

Phone and internet logs showed that on two separate occasions, in June and July 2023, Hardcastle had carried out Google searches about ‘how to soothe a bruised leg’ and ‘how long do toddler bruises last?’.

Hardcastle told the court Damion would often get bruises as he was unsteady on his feet and would fall 'at least a dozen times a day'. 'He was just finding his feet', he said.

When questioned by Mr Jones KC, the tattoo artist said his mother and their social worker had seen the bruises on Damion. But he said he was 'scared of the assumption by people like social'.

He added: 'I feared if they thought it was down to me he would be taken from my care and I'd have gone through all that hard work for nothing.'

He said after they moved into the flat in May 2023 they had 'a really good bond, father and son getting stronger every day'. 

He took his son on trips to the park, the beach and the pier and had been to Fairhaven Lake and the Splash park in Lytham with his little boy.

On June 29, 2023, Damion was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital after falling on a step at a friend's tattoo parlour. 

The toddler was hot and appeared to be fitting, Hardcastle said. He called for help from two women who were passing by, and one - who he later learned was a nurse - stripped Damion down and put him in the recovery position.

Damion was diagnosed as having suffered a febrile convulsion - a condition which can affect young children when they have a high temperature and discharged the same day.

On the night on July 18, Hardcastle said he spent the night on a video call with a woman while Damion was in bed. 

Phone logs showed the call lasted several hours from around 11pm to 6am the following morning. 

Hardcastle said the conversation was 'flirtatious and nothing more' and during the call he turned the camera to Damion to show the woman his son.

He said: 'I felt proud, like I was doing a good job and people could see that.'

The trial continues.  

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2024-07-03T10:37:21Z dg43tfdfdgfd