A Co Armagh man who punched a baby girl claiming he wanted to watch the X-Factor in peace has been jailed for 13½ years.

A judge at Belfast Crown Court branded Darren Fagan’s version of how the baby sustained brain injuries in October 2014 at her Bessbrook home as “cowardly, vindictive and shameful”.

Fagan (29), formerly of Clonavon Avenue in Portadown, pleaded guilty to a single charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to the baby who was just two years and four months old at the time.

A charge of attempted murder was “left on the books in the usual terms”.

Fagan also received an extended custodial sentence of three years “for the protection of the public” after Judge Geoffrey Miller QC assessed him as posing a danger to society following the attack on the crying child in her cot.

He told Fagan that he would have to serve half his sentence before the Parole Commissioners would decide whether it was safe to release him back into the community.

If he was assessed as being safe to be freed from custody at that point, Fagan would spend a further nine years and three months on supervised licence by the Probation Service.