Baby Brendon Staddon suffered catastrophic injuries—described as comparable to a fall from a multi-story building—inflicted while nurses were just steps away.

It is the kind of headline that stops you cold. The kind of story that feels too nightmarish to be true. A helpless, premature baby—only 14 days old—murdered in a hospital cot by the one man meant to protect him: his father.

And it happened just feet away from trained medical staff, under fluorescent lights, inside the sterile walls of a special care unit.

Now, Daniel Gunter, 27, will spend the rest of his life behind bars, sentenced to a minimum of 20 years for the brutal murder of his newborn son, Brendon Staddon.

The courtroom fell into stunned silence as the sentence was read—a moment soaked in horror, disbelief, and immeasurable sorrow.

But even that moment could not capture the full weight of the evil that unfolded on that chilling night at Yeovil District Hospital in Somerset. Brendon had been born prematurely at just 33 weeks, weighing only 1.83kg. He was fragile but healthy.

Vulnerable, but fighting. What no one could have predicted was that the true danger to Brendon would come not from premature birth—but from the violent hands of his own father.

At 4 a.m. on March 5, 2024, nurses were alerted by Brendon’s mother, 21-year-old Sophie Staddon, who said her baby felt cold. What they found in the cot was far worse than any nurse could have imagined.

Brendon had suffered catastrophic injuries to nearly every part of his body—his head, neck, jaw, legs, arms, and torso. He was immediately rushed to the resuscitation area, but despite desperate efforts, he was pronounced dead at 4:59 a.m.

The extent of Brendon’s injuries was described in court by medical experts as comparable to what one might suffer falling from a multi-story building. His skull was fractured, his neck broken, his limbs twisted. There wasn’t a single part of his body that escaped the violence.

Judge Justice Swift, presiding over the trial at Bristol Crown Court, held nothing back in his damning assessment. “Brendon was your son,” he said, eyes fixed on Gunter.

“A highly vulnerable victim, born early but otherwise healthy. The injuries you inflicted were not only catastrophic—they were brutal, excessive, and delivered with intent.”

According to the court, Gunter executed the fatal assault in silence, with nurses just yards away. There was no cry for help. No warning. Just raw, silent violence inflicted on a baby too young to defend himself.

The judge concluded that Gunter’s actions were not only premeditated, but calculated—and likely fueled by his anger, jealousy, and controlling behavior toward Brendon’s mother.

In fact, throughout the trial, a disturbing pattern emerged. Gunter reportedly questioned whether Brendon was his biological son. He was controlling, aggressive, and repeatedly ignored nurses’ instructions while in the hospital.

Witnesses said he would roughly handle Brendon, remove him from the incubator without permission, overstimulate him, and even take out his feeding tube—despite clear warnings not to.

In the hours before the murder, Gunter and Staddon were told by hospital authorities that their newborn would be removed from their care due to serious concerns. That notification, prosecutors argued, may have pushed Gunter into a final, irreversible act of violence.

Staddon, though arrested at the same time as Gunter, was acquitted of causing or allowing Brendon’s death.

Her role, while scrutinized, did not rise to the level of criminal responsibility, according to the court. As the tragedy unfolded, both parents stepped outside to smoke—leaving their dying child behind.

Gunter’s defense attorney painted a bleak picture of a troubled man with a low IQ and a chaotic upbringing.

Described as emotionally immature and socially isolated, he was expelled from school, had a history of erratic behavior, and had no prior violent convictions—except a caution for throwing water at a former partner.

But none of it, said the judge, excused or explained the savagery of what happened in that hospital room.

“In simple terms,” the judge said, “very severe force was brought to bear on Brendon. He died because you chose to inflict violence on him when he was most defenseless.”

In the wake of Brendon’s death, his grandfather—David Gunter’s own father—delivered a heartbreaking victim impact statement.

“Brendon was my first grandson. He was so tiny but so perfect. We were excited. We held him. We had our moment with him,” he wrote. “Time stopped still the day he died.”

He described how the family had to visit Brendon in the mortuary, how they gave him a “beautiful send-off,” and how they will now spend the rest of their lives imagining what could have been—his first smile, his first steps, his first word.

“We will never see any of it,” he said. “He didn’t even get the chance.”

Outside the courtroom, Detective Chief Inspector Nadine Partridge spoke for a stunned community: “This case is one of the most harrowing investigations our team has ever faced.

Just the thought that someone could be capable of doing what Daniel did to a tiny baby is incomprehensible.”

A spokesperson for the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust confirmed that a multi-agency Child Safeguarding Practice Review is underway, with findings expected later this year.

They acknowledged the sheer distress caused by this case and emphasized their commitment to understanding how such a horrific act could happen under hospital supervision.

The public’s reaction has been swift and fierce. Social media lit up with rage, disbelief, and mourning. Many questioned how such a violent act could occur within a hospital’s walls—especially in a unit designed to protect the most vulnerable.

Others called for systemic reviews of how parents are monitored in neonatal units and whether more should be done to protect at-risk infants from domestic threats.

And still, through all the noise and heartbreak, one truth remains: a baby boy—just 14 days old—never had a chance to live. His name was Brendon. And his story is now one of the most tragic and brutal crimes in recent British history.

As Daniel Gunter begins his life sentence, and as Brendon’s family grieves a loss that words cannot contain, one thing is certain: no court ruling, no amount of justice, will ever bring back the smile that Brendon never got to give.