A 10-month-old baby was made to eat his own vomit and was “assaulted on a regular basis” by his mother and stepfather who went on to murder him, a trial has heard.
Gemma Barton and Craig Crouch “encouraged and applauded each other” as they “worked together” to cause Jacob Crouch’s “suffering and death” with the youngster sustaining at least 39 rib fractures in a minimum of four separate assaults, a prosecutor told the jury at Derby Crown Court.
