Dad gets six years for killing baby girl
Wife hits out over sentence
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A MAN who shook his baby to death then tried to pin the blame on his wife was today jailed for more than six years.
After sentencing, the baby’s mum Hayley reacted furiously to Gareth Harries’ jail term.
She said her estranged husband should have got double the six years and eight months he was imprisoned for.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard Harries, who served with the RAF, had tried to incriminate his wife.
Today police described Harries as a manipulative liar who tried to wheedle his way out of trouble.
Hayley, a servicewoman, said: “It is not good enough. He should have got double that.”
“He is the only one who will ever really know what happened.
“I would never have gone out and left her with him if I thought he would have done it.”
Last month, Harries admitted killing eight-month-old Chloe after he couldn’t get her to stop crying.
The 25-year-old was originally charged with murder and had blamed wife Hayley, pictured left, for the infant’s death.
He later admitted a reduced charge of culpable homicide.
Grampian Police Detective Inspector Matt Mackay today said: “I am satisfied that justice has been done for Chloe’s mother and other members of her family who continue to be in our thoughts.
“This was a deeply disturbing and tragic crime perpetrated by a highly-manipulative person who was prepared to lie to cover up his actions.
“Gareth Harries attempted to manipulate and illicit information from medical staff and the witnesses in order to minimise his role in the shocking circumstances which led to the death of Chloe.
“From the moment the authorities were alerted to Chloe’s injuries, Gareth Harries attempted to cover his tracks with lie after lie.
“He alone was responsible for the terrible injuries suffered by Chloe.”
Harries, 25, was originally charged with murdering his child at a service house in Lossiemouth’s MacDonald Drive on November 24, 2006.
The reduced charge saw him admit to assaulting Chloe by seizing her by the body, repeatedly shaking her and killing her.
At the High Court in Edinburgh today, judge Lady Dorrian told Harries, of Milford Haven in Wales, that he would have been jailed for eight years for the killing, but for his guilty plea.
Defence counsel David Moggach said Harries now accepted full responsibility for the crime.
He said that Harries was devastated by what had happened in the very tragic case.
