Teacher who was jailed for three years for shaking 43

A teacher who shook a baby causing brain damage has been banned from the classroom for life.

Jonathan Sinfield, who taught at Wellsway school in Keynsham, Bristol, initially claimed the 43-day-old baby had fallen and its head against a sofa in Bath.

Sinfield, now 31, was jailed for three years for causing grievous bodily harm and actual bodily harm.

Now the Teaching Regulation Agency has banned him for life from ever teaching again even though the offences did not happen in a school or on a pupil or school staff.

The incident occurred when Sinfield was babysitting the 43-day-old infant in Bath. 

Sinfield was jailed for three years for causing grievous bodily harm and actual bodily harm

The teaching panel has banned Sinfield from the profession for the rest of his life. Pictured: Wellsway school in Keynsham, Bristol

After first alleging that the child had hit its head, he later claimed that he had accidentally dropped the baby from a height of one metre. 

However, medical experts determined that the baby's injuries were too severe for Sinfield's claims to be true and the injuries were sustained as a result of forceful shaking. 

They concluded that the infant had bleeding behind the eyes and brain damage as result of force from Sinfield.

The teaching panel said Sinfield still sees himself as a wrongly convicted man. 

The former teacher was sentenced to three years in prison by a judge at Bristol Crown Court in June 2022. 

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In court, Judge William Hart said: 'I cannot ignore the delay in telling the hospital the mechanism of the baby's injury.

'They took many hours to diagnose what happened. If you had the courage to come clean things could have been different.'

Sinfield's defence argued that the incident showed a loss of control and was not premeditated. 

 At the time of his conviction, Detective Constable Mark Wilkes said: 'I'd like to praise the victim's family for their patience and courage throughout what has undoubtedly been a difficult and painful investigation for them. 

This is a very sad incident that has been made worse by the web of lies spun by Jonathan Sinfield.

'Doctors and nurses did an incredible job caring for the victim, but Sinfield's failure to tell them an honest account of what happened made their task all the harder and exemplified his selfish attitude.

'At no stage has he shown any remorse. He continued to refuse to admit to causing horrific harm to a defenceless baby until police confronted him with overwhelming evidence that meant it was in his interest to plead guilty.'