A four-week-old baby was murdered by his ‘evil’ father after social services missed ‘early opportunities’ to intervene in his home life.

Little Ollie Davis, from Leicester, was left with 40 broken bones across his tiny limbs and a series of brain injuries after a horrendous campaign of abuse at the hands of his father, Michael Davis, in October 2017.

He had inflicted waves of violence on the poor child over the course of up to 10 days, taking his anger out on his son after becoming tired spending nights gaming instead of sleeping

Ollie’s mother, Kayleigh Driver, stood by and did nothing to save him from the violence inflicted on him over the course of up to 10 days, and when the couple were hauled in by police neither showed any remorse.

A report released today, as Davies was jailed for life for murder and Driver for seven years for allowing Ollie’s death, found that ‘early opportunities’ to refer and assess the family ‘were not taken’ by social services.

Compiled in 2017 but newly released, the report said the abuse the small child suffered wasn’t ‘foreseeable’ – despite both parents having ‘significant’ involvement with social services previously.

Despite acknowledging ‘systematic shortfalls’, the report declared it ‘would not have contributed’ to Ollie’s tragic death.

Written by the Leicester Safeguarding Children Partnership Board, it found that not every contact or referral made to social services about Ollie were ‘treated with sufficient, care, thoroughness and gravity’.

The report said that assessments about Ollie after his birth were not detailed enough and that the sharing of information between interested parties was ‘compromised at points’ and on ‘more than one occasion’.

The board said: ‘It is very clear that all the professionals who were involved with [Ollie] and his family worked to help his parents to care for him and to keep him safe.’

However, it added that ‘more could have been done to explore vulnerability and risk for this family’.

The review concluded that despite identifying ‘procedural issues and systemic shortfalls’, these ‘would have not contributed’ to Ollie’s death. 

Leicester city council said 16 improvements proposed after the safeguarding review had been implemented since 2017.

The infant had sustained broken ribs, as well as fractures to his skull, collar bone, both arms and all the joints in his four small limbs before he arrived at Leicester Royal Infirmary on the day of his death.

The tiny baby’s ‘snapped’ neck, sustained about four days before his death, was ruled to be the fatal injury by pathologists.

The couple had not been together when Driver discovered she was pregnant. She had gone back to living with an ex-boyfriend and Davis was living with one of his friends.

When finally brought before the courts, Driver demanded allowances for her disabilities, which delayed the sentencing hearing. She appeared today on a mobility scooter due to her multiple sclerosis, which affects the brain and nerves.

The baby’s injuries were compared to that of a car crash, but when questioned in police interview, Davis showed no sign of emotion or remorse, and claimed he had ‘no idea’ how the youngster came about his death as he shrugged his shoulders.

He would admit to not being prepared for fatherhood, with the jury in the trial being told he would often play on his PlayStation 4 late into the night, spending time on games such as Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto and Assassin’s Creed, as well as watching wrestling on TV late into the night, instead of looking after his son.

And footage of Ollie’s mother being quizzed by the police following her son’s death shows her yawning and saying ‘can’t think where he got that [the injuries] from’. 

Due to the extent of the injuries Ollie suffered and the amount of medical expertise needed to examine them, his parents weren’t charged until four years after he died.

Sentencing the killer father today, Mr Justice Cotter said the October 2017 murder of innocent month-old Ollie had involved a ‘devastating’ fatal spinal injury.

The judge, sitting at Loughborough Court, said medical experts had confirmed that the little baby suffered 23 rib fractures and other horrific injuries usually seen after a ‘high energy car crash.’

After saying he was sure that Davis had caused all the injuries to his baby during four separate overnight ‘episodes’ of violence, Mr Justice Cotter added: ‘At least five different mechanisms were required to cause this terrible array of injuries.

‘Michael Davis, I have no doubt that during the night you became frustrated and angry and this led to terrible violence.

‘You assaulted him on multiple occasions. The attacks in their various forms were also brutal – in particular the fatal neck injury.’

In not seeking medical help, Davis had shown ‘callous indifference’ to Ollie’s suffering, the judge also said.

The judge told her: ‘You must have heard Ollie’s cries after he was assaulted, as you were together in the bedroom. This must have woken you up.

‘Ollie would have suffered intense pain. Each of the injuries was caused by you, Michael Davis and I’m sure that you, Kayleigh Driver, did not cause any injuries to Ollie,’ the judge said before delivering the sentence.

The judge told Driver she had clearly lied during the trial and must have heard him screaming when the injuries to her child were inflicted by Davis. 

He said Ollie’s arm injuries would have led to him being in ‘excruciating pain’ and that it was ‘inconceivable’ that she did not know anything was wrong.

But he said her health ‘warrants a merciful approach’ to sentencing.

Ricky Driver, Ollie’s grandfather, said after the sentencing: ‘On the 21 October 2017 we were awaken to the sad news of Ollie’s sudden death and concluded that it was a probably a cot death. A day none of us will forget.

‘After further examination by experts, we were horrified to find out there were suspicious circumstances regarding Ollie’s death.

‘The police arrested Kayleigh and Michael for questioning – this shook the family to the core. Over time the injuries were made public, and we couldn’t believe what we were being told.

‘Ollie was perfect in every way when he was born. He had been beaten badly over time and was left to die with his injuries.

‘This was our worst nightmare. How could anybody hurt a beautiful baby was beyond words.

‘We felt sick to our stomachs, and we have shed many a tear thinking what Ollie went through in his final days.’

He described the actions which led to Ollie’s death as ‘evil’ and also said the wider family had been ‘dragged through hell for nearly seven years, with all the lies and deceit.’

Speaking to reporters outside court, Davis’s mother, Paula Wright, said Ollie had been a ‘special little diamond’ and ‘the sweetest boy you could ever meet.’

Claiming she believed her son had not caused Ollie’s injuries, Ms Wright added: ‘I think he’s innocent – he’s not even got a temper on him.’

Detective Inspector Mark Parish said: ‘At the heart of this complex investigation has always been to try to get justice for Ollie.

‘He was let down in the most horrendous ways imaginable.

‘Due to the amount of injuries Ollie suffered, and the medical expertise needed to examine those injuries, it has taken more than six years for this investigation to come to court and for Ollie’s parents to be held accountable.’

Narita Bahra, representing Ollie’s mother Driver, had said her client had multiple sclerosis which was getting worse, clinical depression and a mental age of just over 11 years. 

She asked the judge to suspend her client’s jail sentence.

Referring to Driver’s older children, who live with their father, she said: ‘Kayleigh Driver presents as a very tragic figure. She is a woman of hitherto positive good character and cared for three children alone for two years, day and night, as a single parent.

‘There’s no evidence of those children coming to any harm. There’s no punishment that will be greater than the suffering that she has suffered since Ollie’s death.

‘There is nothing left for this woman in life. There isn’t any benefit to physical incarceration.’ The court heard that Davis lacked maturity and never had any intention to kill Ollie.

Crown Counsel Jonas Hankin KC said during the trial that the prosecution believes that Ollie was subjected to serious physical abuse which ‘most likely took place during the last 10 days of his life’.

Mr Hankin told the jury during the trial: ‘Michael Davis said he checked the baby. He said, ‘I thought he was a bit quiet – normally he would be moaning and whinging.’

‘He said Ollie was lying on his back and his head wasn’t straight. He said Ollie’s eyes were closed and when he touched Ollie’s forehead it was ‘really cold’. He said there was no breathing whatsoever and Ollie was floppy.

‘He said he then commenced CPR without calling for help and despite having had no first aid training.’ Davis told the police that after trying chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation he carried the lifeless child downstairs.

Mr Hankin said: ‘Kayleigh Driver said that during that time she had heard nothing – no panicking, no shouting from Michael.’

The jury also heard that the couple had not been together when Driver discovered she was pregnant. She had gone back to living with an ex-boyfriend and Davis was living with one of his friends.

The prosecutor said Davis had asked Driver: ‘Do you even know it’s mine?’ Mr Hankin added: ‘However, he did subsequently satisfy himself the child was his so they resumed their relationship.’

Mr Hankin had previously told the jury it would be a matter for them whether both Davis and Driver were responsible for murdering Ollie, or whether one of them committed the murder.

The prosecutor added that the pattern of injuries was ‘recognised to occur in cases of physical abuse’ and that the jury ‘can be absolutely sure Ollie was being physically abused’. 

In his police interviews, Davis denied having ever harmed Ollie. He told officers about discovering his son’s still body at the home in Upper Temple Walk, Beaumont Leys, Leicester, on the morning of Saturday, October 21, 2017.

Davis told Leicestershire Police detectives he had got up to feed Ollie at 3am after being woken by his crying. 

Afterwards he went back to bed and woke up with Ollie in the crib beside his bed and Driver downstairs with her mother.

Video footage showed Davis being interviewed by police in 2017, immediately after Ollie’s death. 

The officer questioning him asked him to explain ‘how it might have happened’ that his son suffered his horrific injuries.

Mumbling, Davis replied: ‘I haven’t got any idea of how this might have happened, no.’

When the detective asked whether it is a shock to hear of the extensive injuries, Davis seems unphased and replied calmly: ‘Yeah, yeah.’

The officer added: ‘How do you account for these injuries on Ollie?’

Davis replied: ‘Not sure how he’s got any of them.

‘Because I didn’t even know there was any injuries or anything.

‘Because when I did put him to bed at about three, he seemed fine and everything looked fine.

‘He seemed fine when he was sleeping. He wasn’t acting any differently.’

In another video, filmed during his interview in 2020, he is seen wearing a mask.

He was asked directly by police whether he is responsible for his son’s murder, but again he says without emotion, ‘no’.

Andrew Baxter, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor from the CPS said today: ‘Ollie Driver’s life was ended by his own father whilst his mother did nothing to protect him. 

‘Rather than care for and nurture their vulnerable young baby, this child was abused my Michael Davis repeatedly until he killed him. Kayleigh Driver chose to do nothing to stop the abuse. The final days of Ollie’s short, tragic life were filled with pain and distress.

‘Rather than face up to their actions, both parents lied repeatedly about events, and have left it to a jury to determine the horrifying way they treated Ollie.

‘Ollie’s death at such a young age came as a devastating shock to his extended family. Our thoughts and sympathies are with them.’

Rather than raising the alarm immediately, Davis claimed he tried CPR for 15 minutes before summoning help. The prosecution argued that this was the act of someone who knew he was responsible for what had happened.

A four-week-old baby was murdered by his ‘evil’ father after social services missed ‘early opportunities’ to intervene in his home life.

Little Ollie Davis, from Leicester, was left with 40 broken bones across his tiny limbs and a series of brain injuries after a horrendous campaign of abuse at the hands of his father, Michael Davis, in October 2017.

He had inflicted waves of violence on the poor child over the course of up to 10 days, taking his anger out on his son after becoming tired spending nights gaming instead of sleeping

Ollie’s mother, Kayleigh Driver, stood by and did nothing to save him from the violence inflicted on him over the course of up to 10 days, and when the couple were hauled in by police neither showed any remorse.

A report released today, as Davies was jailed for life for murder and Driver for seven years for allowing Ollie’s death, found that ‘early opportunities’ to refer and assess the family ‘were not taken’ by social services.

Compiled in 2017 but newly released, the report said the abuse the small child suffered wasn’t ‘foreseeable’ – despite both parents having ‘significant’ involvement with social services previously.

Despite acknowledging ‘systematic shortfalls’, the report declared it ‘would not have contributed’ to Ollie’s tragic death.

Written by the Leicester Safeguarding Children Partnership Board, it found that not every contact or referral made to social services about Ollie were ‘treated with sufficient, care, thoroughness and gravity’.

The report said that assessments about Ollie after his birth were not detailed enough and that the sharing of information between interested parties was ‘compromised at points’ and on ‘more than one occasion’.

The board said: ‘It is very clear that all the professionals who were involved with [Ollie] and his family worked to help his parents to care for him and to keep him safe.’

However, it added that ‘more could have been done to explore vulnerability and risk for this family’.

The review concluded that despite identifying ‘procedural issues and systemic shortfalls’, these ‘would have not contributed’ to Ollie’s death. 

Leicester city council said 16 improvements proposed after the safeguarding review had been implemented since 2017.

The infant had sustained broken ribs, as well as fractures to his skull, collar bone, both arms and all the joints in his four small limbs before he arrived at Leicester Royal Infirmary on the day of his death.

The tiny baby’s ‘snapped’ neck, sustained about four days before his death, was ruled to be the fatal injury by pathologists.

The couple had not been together when Driver discovered she was pregnant. She had gone back to living with an ex-boyfriend and Davis was living with one of his friends.

When finally brought before the courts, Driver demanded allowances for her disabilities, which delayed the sentencing hearing. She appeared today on a mobility scooter due to her multiple sclerosis, which affects the brain and nerves.

The baby’s injuries were compared to that of a car crash, but when questioned in police interview, Davis showed no sign of emotion or remorse, and claimed he had ‘no idea’ how the youngster came about his death as he shrugged his shoulders.

He would admit to not being prepared for fatherhood, with the jury in the trial being told he would often play on his PlayStation 4 late into the night, spending time on games such as Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto and Assassin’s Creed, as well as watching wrestling on TV late into the night, instead of looking after his son.

And footage of Ollie’s mother being quizzed by the police following her son’s death shows her yawning and saying ‘can’t think where he got that [the injuries] from’. 

Due to the extent of the injuries Ollie suffered and the amount of medical expertise needed to examine them, his parents weren’t charged until four years after he died.

Sentencing the killer father today, Mr Justice Cotter said the October 2017 murder of innocent month-old Ollie had involved a ‘devastating’ fatal spinal injury.

The judge, sitting at Loughborough Court, said medical experts had confirmed that the little baby suffered 23 rib fractures and other horrific injuries usually seen after a ‘high energy car crash.’

After saying he was sure that Davis had caused all the injuries to his baby during four separate overnight ‘episodes’ of violence, Mr Justice Cotter added: ‘At least five different mechanisms were required to cause this terrible array of injuries.

‘Michael Davis, I have no doubt that during the night you became frustrated and angry and this led to terrible violence.

‘You assaulted him on multiple occasions. The attacks in their various forms were also brutal – in particular the fatal neck injury.’

In not seeking medical help, Davis had shown ‘callous indifference’ to Ollie’s suffering, the judge also said.

The judge told her: ‘You must have heard Ollie’s cries after he was assaulted, as you were together in the bedroom. This must have woken you up.

‘Ollie would have suffered intense pain. Each of the injuries was caused by you, Michael Davis and I’m sure that you, Kayleigh Driver, did not cause any injuries to Ollie,’ the judge said before delivering the sentence.

The judge told Driver she had clearly lied during the trial and must have heard him screaming when the injuries to her child were inflicted by Davis. 

He said Ollie’s arm injuries would have led to him being in ‘excruciating pain’ and that it was ‘inconceivable’ that she did not know anything was wrong.

But he said her health ‘warrants a merciful approach’ to sentencing.

Ricky Driver, Ollie’s grandfather, said after the sentencing: ‘On the 21 October 2017 we were awaken to the sad news of Ollie’s sudden death and concluded that it was a probably a cot death. A day none of us will forget.

‘After further examination by experts, we were horrified to find out there were suspicious circumstances regarding Ollie’s death.

‘The police arrested Kayleigh and Michael for questioning – this shook the family to the core. Over time the injuries were made public, and we couldn’t believe what we were being told.

‘Ollie was perfect in every way when he was born. He had been beaten badly over time and was left to die with his injuries.

‘This was our worst nightmare. How could anybody hurt a beautiful baby was beyond words.

‘We felt sick to our stomachs, and we have shed many a tear thinking what Ollie went through in his final days.’

He described the actions which led to Ollie’s death as ‘evil’ and also said the wider family had been ‘dragged through hell for nearly seven years, with all the lies and deceit.’

Speaking to reporters outside court, Davis’s mother, Paula Wright, said Ollie had been a ‘special little diamond’ and ‘the sweetest boy you could ever meet.’

Claiming she believed her son had not caused Ollie’s injuries, Ms Wright added: ‘I think he’s innocent – he’s not even got a temper on him.’

Detective Inspector Mark Parish said: ‘At the heart of this complex investigation has always been to try to get justice for Ollie.

‘He was let down in the most horrendous ways imaginable.

‘Due to the amount of injuries Ollie suffered, and the medical expertise needed to examine those injuries, it has taken more than six years for this investigation to come to court and for Ollie’s parents to be held accountable.’

Narita Bahra, representing Ollie’s mother Driver, had said her client had multiple sclerosis which was getting worse, clinical depression and a mental age of just over 11 years. 

She asked the judge to suspend her client’s jail sentence.

Referring to Driver’s older children, who live with their father, she said: ‘Kayleigh Driver presents as a very tragic figure. She is a woman of hitherto positive good character and cared for three children alone for two years, day and night, as a single parent.

‘There’s no evidence of those children coming to any harm. There’s no punishment that will be greater than the suffering that she has suffered since Ollie’s death.

‘There is nothing left for this woman in life. There isn’t any benefit to physical incarceration.’ The court heard that Davis lacked maturity and never had any intention to kill Ollie.

Crown Counsel Jonas Hankin KC said during the trial that the prosecution believes that Ollie was subjected to serious physical abuse which ‘most likely took place during the last 10 days of his life’.

Mr Hankin told the jury during the trial: ‘Michael Davis said he checked the baby. He said, ‘I thought he was a bit quiet – normally he would be moaning and whinging.’

‘He said Ollie was lying on his back and his head wasn’t straight. He said Ollie’s eyes were closed and when he touched Ollie’s forehead it was ‘really cold’. He said there was no breathing whatsoever and Ollie was floppy.

‘He said he then commenced CPR without calling for help and despite having had no first aid training.’ Davis told the police that after trying chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation he carried the lifeless child downstairs.

Mr Hankin said: ‘Kayleigh Driver said that during that time she had heard nothing – no panicking, no shouting from Michael.’

The jury also heard that the couple had not been together when Driver discovered she was pregnant. She had gone back to living with an ex-boyfriend and Davis was living with one of his friends.

The prosecutor said Davis had asked Driver: ‘Do you even know it’s mine?’ Mr Hankin added: ‘However, he did subsequently satisfy himself the child was his so they resumed their relationship.’

Mr Hankin had previously told the jury it would be a matter for them whether both Davis and Driver were responsible for murdering Ollie, or whether one of them committed the murder.

The prosecutor added that the pattern of injuries was ‘recognised to occur in cases of physical abuse’ and that the jury ‘can be absolutely sure Ollie was being physically abused’. 

In his police interviews, Davis denied having ever harmed Ollie. He told officers about discovering his son’s still body at the home in Upper Temple Walk, Beaumont Leys, Leicester, on the morning of Saturday, October 21, 2017.

Davis told Leicestershire Police detectives he had got up to feed Ollie at 3am after being woken by his crying. 

Afterwards he went back to bed and woke up with Ollie in the crib beside his bed and Driver downstairs with her mother.

Video footage showed Davis being interviewed by police in 2017, immediately after Ollie’s death. 

The officer questioning him asked him to explain ‘how it might have happened’ that his son suffered his horrific injuries.

Mumbling, Davis replied: ‘I haven’t got any idea of how this might have happened, no.’

When the detective asked whether it is a shock to hear of the extensive injuries, Davis seems unphased and replied calmly: ‘Yeah, yeah.’

The officer added: ‘How do you account for these injuries on Ollie?’

Davis replied: ‘Not sure how he’s got any of them.

‘Because I didn’t even know there was any injuries or anything.

‘Because when I did put him to bed at about three, he seemed fine and everything looked fine.

‘He seemed fine when he was sleeping. He wasn’t acting any differently.’

In another video, filmed during his interview in 2020, he is seen wearing a mask.

He was asked directly by police whether he is responsible for his son’s murder, but again he says without emotion, ‘no’.

Andrew Baxter, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor from the CPS said today: ‘Ollie Driver’s life was ended by his own father whilst his mother did nothing to protect him. 

‘Rather than care for and nurture their vulnerable young baby, this child was abused my Michael Davis repeatedly until he killed him. Kayleigh Driver chose to do nothing to stop the abuse. The final days of Ollie’s short, tragic life were filled with pain and distress.

‘Rather than face up to their actions, both parents lied repeatedly about events, and have left it to a jury to determine the horrifying way they treated Ollie.

‘Ollie’s death at such a young age came as a devastating shock to his extended family. Our thoughts and sympathies are with them.’

Rather than raising the alarm immediately, Davis claimed he tried CPR for 15 minutes before summoning help. The prosecution argued that this was the act of someone who knew he was responsible for what had happened.