TWO hospitals failed to spot the broken bones caused by the father of a newborn girl.
Steven Butler's sickening treatment of his daughter, Sarah Anne, was only discovered after she died.
But he could not be charged with killing her because the exact cause of her death could not be established.
Sarah Anne was three weeks old when she died, days after Butler, 30, squeezed her so hard he fractured ten ribs.
Newcastle Crown Court heard how Sarah Anne had been under close observation at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead, and the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, for almost a week before her death on November 25, 2001.
An x-ray on November 18 had failed to spot any abnormalities and she was allowed home to Murray Road, Chester-le-Street, the day before she died.
It was only during the subsequent post-mortem examination that Butler's cruelty was exposed.
Yesterday, Butler pleaded guilty to a charge of child cruelty and was jailed for 18 months. He already had two previous convictions for assaults relating to ex-partners.
Tony Hawks, defending, said Butler had not realised how much damage he had caused.
Sarah Anne's mother, Deborah Robson, who started a relationship with Butler in 1999, was initially arrested after her daughter's death but has since been exonerated.
Speaking after the hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Reddick said: "If he Butler is ever allowed near children again, at any time in the future, one can only have extreme concern for the safety of those children."
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