CCTV shows Derbyshire killer dad’s movements as he tried to make son’s fatal injuries appear accidental

Michael Harrison’s son Mikey Harrison died after receiving “multiple blunt force” injuries at the hands of his father on June 18 last year.

Derby Crown Court heard that Harrison, 41, had violently beaten his son in their family home in Heanor – leaving the 11-year-old with a bleed to his liver.

It took Harrison four hours to call an ambulance for his son, with CCTV footage released by Derbyshire Police showing him driving Mikey to Shipley Country Park, before phoning for medical assistance when they arrived.

Prosecutor Peter Joyce described how paramedics found the “undernourished” 11-year old, who weighed just three stones and 11 pounds, in Harrison’s van at the park.

He said: “Mikey went into cardiac arrest, was rushed to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham where, despite the best efforts of doctors, he was pronounced dead at 2.39pm that day.”

Harrison claimed that Mikey had fallen from a tree during a game of hide and seek – telling the police that he was unaware how it had happened.

However, Mr Joyce said: “The entire account was a fiction made up to cover up that he himself had fatally injured his son.”

Harrison, of Eaton Terrace, Nottingham, later admitted to the murder of his son. Today at Derby Crown Court he was jailed for life with a minimum of 21 years and six months, and Judge Shaun Smith KC told him there was “no evidence” of a “build-up” of issues leading up to the attack other than as a result of Harrison “going crazy”.

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He said: “What you did that morning ended the life of a little boy and the lives of many others.”

James Whyley from the CPS said: “Mikey’s death was a tragic waste of life, caused by his own father in a senseless, brutal attack. It is difficult to understand how someone can use such uncontrolled violence against a child who looks to them for protection, let alone the callous way he tried to cover his tracks instead of seeking medical treatment.

“Our thoughts are with Mikey’s loved ones who have to deal with the tragic loss of a much-loved young boy and the manner in which he died. My heart goes out to them for their loss.”

In building the case against Michael Harrison, the CPS instructed medical experts, including a paediatrician, to assess the injuries inflicted on Mikey. They concluded that the injuries were such that they must have been caused by severe force. This allowed the prosecution to demonstrate that Harrison could only have acted with intent to cause really serious harm.

With overwhelming evidence that the defendant had inflicted the injuries and the nature of the force he used, he had little option but to plead guilty to murder.

A further count of controlling and coercive behaviour was left to lie on file.

Detective Inspector Paul Bullock from Derbyshire police said: “Michael Harrison has never given an account for why he killed Mikey but his conduct on the day of the tragic events makes it abundantly clear that his primary interest was his own freedom and not the life of his own son.

“We now know the truth, that Mikey was killed by Harrison after a brutal assault that left him with the most serious of injuries. Harrison a strong, fully grown man would have been under no illusion that Mikey was anything other than seriously injured.

"Today our thoughts are with Mikey's family. I would like to pass on both my own, and the wider force's, continued condolences. I would also like to appeal on their behalf that their privacy is respected at this time."