'A shameful betrayal': Father jailed for allowing 'frightening' abuse of defenceless son, 4

The judge said on Friday he was satisfied that there was 'a clear and disturbing pattern of abuse' of the child, of which the boy's father was aware

The 35-year-old defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty last March to charges of endangerment, neglect and impeding the apprehension of the person who he knew or believed to have murdered the child.

A High Court judge has described a father allowing his defenceless four-year-old son to be subjected to a "frightening" campaign of physical abuse and misreporting the boy's "catastrophic" fatal injuries as having been caused by a fall from a bunk bed as a "shameful betrayal" of the child.

Passing sentence on the man on Friday at the Central Criminal Court, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said the defendant bears a very high level of criminal responsibility for failing to nurture and protect his son.