Dad charged with murdering son, 15, who died from injuries sustained as a baby

A father accused of murdering his 15-year-old son as a result of injuries sustained as a baby has appeared in court.

The court heard how John Doak’s son Jack Mitchell was treated in hospital for catastrophic injuries inflicted in 2001.

A post-mortem examination found Jack died from a pulmonary infection and pneumonia in March 2016 as a result of those same injuries.

Jack used a wheelchair and lived with epilepsy, blindness, curvature of the spine, and a number of other disorders.

Doak, 36, from Boston, Lincolnshire, was summonsed to attend Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court  in Essex and was not asked fora plea.

He appeared  briefly before magistrates this morning, then before Chelmsford Crown Court in the afternoon where he was granted bail.

The defendant is due back for a plea hearing on October 16 and a trial expected to last four weeks has been provisionally set for April 20.