Moment mother pleads 'I didn't do anything' and sobs as police handcuff her over death of 10-month-old son
2 August 2023, 17:36 | Updated: 2 August 2023, 19:54
Barton arrested by police
This is the moment police arrest Gemma Barton over her 10 month old son's death - as she sobs and insists "I haven't done anything".
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Jacob Crouch was 10 months old when he was found dead in his cot, having suffered dozens of injuries at their Derbyshire home in December 2020.
Footage released after Barton's trial - where she was convicted over causing or allowing the death of a child and child cruelty - shows the moment police handcuff her as she pleads her innocence.
"Oh my god, I haven't done anything," she tells the officers as she breaks down into tears.
"Gemma, try and breathe for a second," an officer tells her.
"I've got no shoes," the mother protests.
"We can sort that," police tell her, before Barton continues to sob dramatically as she is handcuffed.
"I didn't do anything," she insists again.
It also shows the arrest of Craig Crouch, Jacob's stepfather, who calmly tells officers they do not need handcuffs as they prepare to lead him away.
The 39-year-old has been convicted of murder and three counts of child cruelty following a seven-week trial at Derby Crown Court.
Barton, 33, was cleared of murder, an alternative charge of manslaughter, and two counts of child cruelty.
Jacob Crouch suffered 39 rib fractures, 19 visible bruises and several internal injuries in his short life.
Opening the case in June, prosecutor Mary Prior KC said: "Neither sought medical help for Jacob at any stage for the pain and suffering caused when his bones were broken or in the few days that followed."
She added: "Neither got Jacob out of what must have been a life with episodes of significant pain and suffering.
"Jacob was not given the care that as a baby he needed and deserved."
Mrs Prior said that Jacob died at his home in Foxley Chase, Linton, near Swadlincote, following a "vicious assault" which was the culmination of regular abuse within a "culture of cruelty".
Jacob suffered "repeated physical abuse" in the weeks, days and hours prior to his death and that it was "not remotely" possible that the injuries could have been self-inflicted, according to Dr Sarah Dixon, a consultant paediatrician.
They included a traumatic bowel perforation which led to a fatal infection, which forensic pathologist Dr Michael Biggs said could only have been sustained through blunt force trauma such as a punch, kick or stamp.
He also said that he would expect to see such injuries in car crash victims or those who had suffered a multi-storey fall.
While Dr Biggs said that Jacob's injuries would have left him "systematically unwell" in the time before his death, Crouch claimed in a 999 call that Jacob was "fine" just two hours before he was pronounced dead by paramedics.
Giving evidence, Crouch, a forklift driver at JCB, said that Jacob's injuries had "nothing to do with me", stating that he "didn't see anything" and "didn't see anyone do anything to hurt" his stepson.
Barton, 33, also denied ever harming her son, and when asked who could have inflicted the injuries said: "It was not me so that leaves Craig."
She claimed her son was her "bundle of joy" and said it felt like her "whole world had just ended" when she was awoken by Crouch screaming that Jacob was dead.
Both defendants remained silent as the verdicts were read out, with people in the public gallery weeping.
In text messages from June 2020, Crouch told Barton that she needed to be "more regimental" with Jacob to "not let this take over us", claiming he was "starting to get really pissed off with him" in a later text.
Other messages revealed that the pair at one stage referred to Jacob as the "devil".
In September, when Barton told Crouch she was bathing Jacob, he replied "3 foot deep, just hot water and some bleach xxxx", a comment he later labelled in a police interview as "banter".
Derbyshire Police also released a chilling WhatsApp voice message which Crouch sent to his partner.
"As human beings we tend to follow a hierarchy. What this means is there always has to be a leader, in everything that we do," he says.
"Look at workplace business, you would never have two managers or two directors or two team leaders over the same amount of people over the same department earning the same amount of money. You just wouldn't have it.
"You have a chain of command. For example, there is nobody here in exactly the same job that I have over the same people over the same departments. I answer for everyone. Everyone below me answers to me.
"If they f*** up, I get my a*** kicked, and then it goes down the chain of command. This also has to stand at home. There is always a hierarchy."
After the pair were arrested on January 5 2021, they resumed their relationship despite their bail conditions saying they should not contact each other.
This, Mrs Prior said, was evidence that "what mattered to them was their love affair and their love story".
