A Mapperley dad who 'went crazy' beat his young son to death before lying that he had fallen from a tree playing hide and seek. Michael Harrison, 41, punched his 11-year-old son Mikey repeatedly to the body, causing a laceration to the youngster’s liver on June 18, 2022, Derby Crown Court heard.
Harrison, who was living in Heanor at the time but was more recently of Eaton Terrace in Mapperley, then drove them both to a street close to Shipley Park, close to the Nottinghamshire border, and called an ambulance to say Mikey had fallen out of a tree while playing hide and seek. As reported by Derbyshire Live, he then cleared the property of all its belongings to cover his tracks, but a witness came forward and told police a different version of how Mikey may have come to his death, resulting in a murder investigation being launched.
Jailing Harrison for life and telling him it will be 21 and a half years until he will be eligible to apply for parole, Judge Shaun Smith KC said: “You embarked on a charade with the intent to protect yourself. That was because you had attacked your 11-year-old son, Mikey. You had hit and punched him a number of times and one of those punches was so hard it caused a laceration. You then tried to cover your tracks.
