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Baby killer jailed for life after protesting innocence to regional daily

A baby killer who tried to use a regional daily to clear his name has been convicted of murdering his partner’s daughter.

The Hull Daily Mail has told of how Jonathan Garner approached it last year protesting his innocence over the death of 23-month-old Mia Gregson in February 2014.

Garner and Mia’s mother Samantha Gregson were arrested at the time, but the case against them was closed by police after a pathologist’s report wrongly concluded the child had died of natural causes.

Garner, now 26, contacted the Mail in June 2018 and told reporter Joanna Lovell how “you can’t kill someone and get away with it” and said his life was made a “living hell” after people in Gipsyville, the area of Hull where he lived, discovered he had been arrested.

How the Mail covered the guilty verdicts

How the Mail covered the guilty verdicts

A jury at Sheffield Crown Court has now found him guilty of murder and he has been sentenced to life in prison, while Ms Gregson has also been jailed after she was found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child.

The case had been re-opened after detectives requested further tests and analysis to be carried out as part of the investigation.

Joanna told HTFP: “Garner rang the newsroom and I happened to be the one who answered the call. It was June last year, four years after Mia’s death, but I remembered the story. Her death was one which was obviously high profile at the time.

“We took what Garner said at face value. It was four years after Mia’s death and he had not been convinced for any crime in relation to her death. The pathologist report had concluded Mia died of natural causes and so we could only work with the facts. In the eyes of the law he was an innocent man trying to clear his name and we agreed to let him tell his story.

“He presented himself as the victim from the off. He was desperate to get his voice heard. He said his life had been made a ‘living hell’ since Mia died, it was all about him.

“He was very convincing – like he said, ‘you can’t kill a baby and get away with it, you can’t get away with murder in this country’, therefore he must be innocent.

“You would think that if he had killed her, he would scurry away and hide under a rock, not approach his local newspaper and drag Mia’s death up in the press all over again years later. It didn’t make any sense to do that.

“The thing that struck me though was that there was no sadness for Mia. When I asked about her he didn’t talk about her, he talked about himself. There was no emotion about Mia whatsoever, and that was odd. He seemed so detached from her. That stuck with me. He was not a loving parent.”

The story was not run by the Mail at the time after Garner changed his mind about the interview, but extracts from it have now been published following his conviction.

Joanna added: “Obviously a journalist has to remain impartial, it is not up to me to say whether he was guilty or innocent, I could only report the facts.

“I won’t say I was surprised when he was charged in connection with her death. “But you look back now and you can’t believe someone who had done something so horrific to a defenceless toddler would then have the arrogance and twisted confidence to put his head above the parapet and try to clear his name.

“Throughout this trial he has remained unremorseful and denied his heinous crime. Perhaps he believed his own lies in the end because he had told them for so long.

“Justice has finally been done.”