JAILED FOR 21 YEARS FOR THE MURDER OF HIS FOUR-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER
Carl Wheatley has been jailed for 21 years for the murder of his four-year-old daughter A man has been found guilty of murdering his four-year-old daughter by beating her to death.Alexa-Marie Quinn had 66 injuries including a bruise from her stomach to her ankles when she died in March 2014, St Albans Crown Court heard.
Carl Wheatley, 31, from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, admitted manslaughter but the jury rejected his plea of not guilty to murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
He will be sentenced on Friday.
The court heard Wheatley had convinced social workers he could look after the girl at his home in Queen Bee Court and was awarded custody of her three months before she died on 12 March last year.
The jury was told Wheatley beat Alexa with "hard, sustained, persistent hitting" after losing his temper.
The blows were delivered with such force that fat deposits entered her bloodstream and blocked her lungs.
A pathologist found she died from "extreme blunt-force trauma".
Alexa had been removed from her mother's care some years earlier and had been living with foster parents in Bedfordshire before moving in with her father.
The supermarket worker was also fighting for custody of a three-year-old boy, who cannot be named in order to protect his identity.
Prosecutors said he wanted custody in order to claim more benefit payments.
During the trial, the jury was told psychiatrists diagnosed Wheatley with multiple mental health disorders.
Prosecutor Christopher Donnellan, QC, said Wheatley dialled 999 on the morning of the fatal attack but by the time paramedics arrived it was likely Alexa had been dead for hours.
In welcoming the verdict, Jenny Coles, director of children's services at Hertfordshire County Council, said: "There will be an independent review of all the agencies involved in looking after Alexa-Marie by the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Board.
We are keen to see its results and will welcome any recommendations about any improvements to our services and in our work with vulnerable children and their families."
