A FATHER has been jailed for nine years for violently shaking his baby son to death in a fit of frustration.

Jordan Saxton denied murdering his 11-week old son Jayden at their home in Faringdon by picking him up around the chest and shaking him.

However, while a jury of six men and six women cleared him of murder, they found him guilty of manslaughter yesterday.

The 22-year-old wept in the dock at Oxford Crown Court when the jury announced its unanimous verdict.

Mr Justice Rabinder Singh said Jayden’s death was a tragedy for everyone involved and it had had a lasting affect on the infant’s mother Tracy Ray.

He added: “The cause of his death was catastrophic brain injuries which resulted from an incident of shaking when he was left in your care.”

Detective Chief Inspector Kevin Brown said an inquiry would now be launched to determine if authorities could have done more to help the infant.

Speaking after the hearing, Mr Brown said: “There will be a serious case review, they will go into the details of which agencies, if any, had contact with the family.

“We can always learn, it would appear that fatherhood had been a difficult time for Jordan.

“There is nothing that strikes me that we could have forseen.”

The court heard Miss Ray had left Jayden with Saxton at their home in Untons Place on Sunday, November 16, to pick her daughter up from her dad’s home in Kennington.

However, 90 minutes later Saxton called 999 claiming baby Jayden had stopped breathing.

The jury was played the frantic call, in which Saxton battled to perform CPR to save his son, before paramedics arrived and rushed the infant to Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

Jayden was transferred to the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, but died on November 18.

A post mortem examination revealed Jayden had suffered multiple leg fractures, several broken ribs and a severe brain injury.

Ms Ray and other family members had told the court that Saxton was a doting and loving father and had taken to fatherhood like a “duck to water”.

Mr Justice Singh said no-one but Saxton would ever know what happened the night Jayden was injured.

He added: “I am satisfied you acted as you did in frustration you could not settle Jayden.

“Jayden had been unwell, having suffered from a vomiting bug earlier in the week and it may be he became more difficult to settle than normal, although you must have acted with sufficient force.”

Jailing Saxton for nine years, Mr Justice Singh said Jayden was a vulnerable baby and Saxton had abused his position of trust while looking after him that evening.

Although he did admit that the forklift truck driver for BMW in Cowley was a hard worker, he said he had to acknowledge the harm caused when a human life is lost.

He added: “I take into account your personal circumstances including your age – you became a father when you were only 20 years old.

“You dedicated yourself to your family, you worked hard to support your family.

“However, you were not willing to accept what you had done and have maintained throughout that you thought Jayden was choking on something.”

DCI Brown said that Ms Ray and her family were still devastated by Jayden’s death, but satisfied with the sentence.

He added: “Jordan Saxton is a young, hard-working male. It appears on this occasion his frustration has got the better of him.

“Jordan will serve four-and-a-half years, but you cannot replace Jayden and no sentence will replace Jayden.”