Zoe Howell 19, is accused of causing or allowing the death of 13-day-old son Joshua Millinson while her partner, Daniel Sanzone, is accused of murder (Picture: SWNS)

A newborn baby who died after being ‘shaken, twisted and squeezed’ by his father suffered ‘catastrophic’ damage to his entire brain, a court has heard.

Joshua Millinson was just 13-days old when he was rushed to hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest on October 24 last year.

But despite doctors desperately trying to save him, he died almost a month later on November 21.

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Birmingham Crown Court heard how Joshua died from a ‘catastrophic and irreversible injury to the brain’ caused by shaking.


His dad, Daniel Sanzone, 23, is accused of murder causing or allowing the death of a child and child cruelty, while his mum, Zoe Howell, 19. is accused of causing or allowing his death.



Daniel Du Plessis, a consultant neuropathologist at Salford Royal Hospital, told the court how the whole of the newborn’s brain had suffered injury.

Joshua Millinson was less than two-weeks-old when he was rushed to New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton after suffering a cardiac arrest on October 24 last year (Picture: SWNS)

He said: ‘No part of his brain was spared injury. These were devastating, severe and irreversible injuries incompatible with survival due to some episode where the brain was deprived of blood and oxygen supply.

‘It was the period where there was insufficient or no supply to his brain that led to this damage.

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‘If you look at the whole picture he stopped breathing and his heart stopped because of a traumatic injury on the brain and spine which led to a cardiac arrest which led to brain damage.’

The court heard how Joshua was also found to have fractures to both knees and ankles caused by ‘twisting’ of his limbs.

He also had fractures to his rib cage as a result of ‘squeezing the chest from the sides’.

The couple, who deny all the charges, lived together in Pendeford, Wolverhampton, with Howell’s mother, Sharon Howell and her partner.

Emergency services rushed to their semi-detached property at 10.30pm on October 24 following a 999 call that a two-week-old baby was in cardiac arrest.

When paramedics arrived, Sharon Howell was administering CPR on her grandson, who was ‘grey and floppy’, while Sanzone and Howell were ‘hysterical’.

The court heard a doctor gave his opinion that Joshua’s life support should be withdrawn on November 4.

The trial continues.

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