AN ex-Championship footballer beat a toddler so badly doctors said she looked like a car crash victim.
Kiernan Hughes-Mason, 32, left a two-year-old girl in a coma for 14 days after subjecting her to life-changing brain injuries while she was in his care.
The former Millwall player beat his ex-girlfriend’s daughter before claiming he was downstairs and heard a crash from her room – telling doctors she had fallen on a dollhouse.
Hughes-Mason rang 999 on January 31, 2020, following the attack in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, where the youngster was discovered conscious but unresponsive.
Medics found 17 different injuries to the tot’s legs, back, face and chest which are thought to have been inflicted over a three-month period.
Hughes-Mason was arrested on February 14 that year for his violent actions which left the youngster needing round-the-clock care.
During cops‘ investigation, messages were found to have been sent from Hughes-Mason’s phone telling his pals caring for the girl made him angry.
He wrote: “She’s actually getting on my nerves”, and “I’m gonna hit her”.
At trial, prosecutors said the injuries were similar to those inflicted by “a fall from… several storeys”.
Hughes-Mason, who began his career at Millwall and later played for the social media team Hashtag United, was convicted of grievous bodily harm and child cruelty.
He most recently served as manager of Tower Hamlets FC but was sacked following Wednesday’s conviction.
In closing speeches at trial, prosecution said the girl’s injuries could not have been caused accidentally by her falling in her room.
Hughes-Mason was keen from the outset to portray himself to the police as the doting stepfather… but he regularly belittled them
Prosecution
They said: “The experts are all unanimously of the view that the child’s devastating head and brain injuries could not have been caused accidentally while she was alone in her room.
“Hughes-Mason was keen from the outset to portray himself to the police as the doting stepfather who treated the children as his own, saying how much he loved them.
“Yet in his text messages written at the time, he constantly referred to them as ‘your children,’ or ‘your child’ to the child’s mother.
“He regularly belittled them, talked about them as if they were stupid and put them down.
“In respect of the head and brain injury that the child suffered… the experts all agree that the pattern of injuries found is consistent with the child having been vigorously shaken… with her head likely being hit against a hard surface.
This little girl will never recover from the injuries she sustained from this violent attack
Det Sgt Ellie Nudd
“The only explanation for the pattern of injuries suffered by the child was that they were inflicted by this defendant and inflicted deliberately.”
Following the conviction, the young girl’s family said she will have to “bear the consequences” of Hughes-Mason’s actions for the rest of her life.
They said: “We finally have a verdict and that man is now held accountable for what he did to our little girl.
“We have had to go through what no family should ever have to experience, and our girl is going to bear the consequences of what he has done to her for the rest of her life”.
Det Sgt Ellie Nudd of Essex Police’s child abuse investigation team, added: “This conviction is important.
“Hughes-Mason denied responsibility for all of the child’s injuries, pointing the finger at others or blaming them on accidents.
“This little girl will never recover from the injuries she sustained from this violent attack.
“The doctor’s were clear about the extent of the injuries – they were equivalent to a high-speed crash, and would have to be the result of a violent assault.”
Hughes-Mason will be sentenced at Basildon Crown Court on September 10.
