Joanne Seniors: mother whose four-month-old baby was shaken by partner still lives with scars 15 years on

Joanne Seniors, 46, from Huddersfield, is a full-time carer for her son Charlie now 15, after his father Paul Sykes shook him to stop him crying.

The ICON campaign, which Joanne is now an ambassador for, was launched in Lancashire two years ago in a bid to reduce infant head injuries.

It was developed following concerns across the country about what is now called abusive head trauma and used to be called shaken baby syndrome.

In May 2007 Joanne and her son's lives changed in an instant leaving both with mental and physical scars.

Charlie was left with a different quality of life than his mother had envisioned for him after being registered blind and suffering with cerebral palsy - a lifelong condition which affects movement and co-ordination.

Reliving the moment she heard screaming, Joanne said: "We had been out shopping and had went to get Charlie a health check and had him weighed and everything was fine.

"I was in the shower and he was in his cot when I heard him crying.

"Paul asked me was he to have his bottle and I thought, as he had started teething which might have been the problem, to give him teething granules.

"The next thing I heard an almighty scream which made me turn the shower off.

"When I asked what had happened Paul said it was fine and that Charlie was just having 'Paddy'.

"When I got out of the shower Paul was turning the corner to walk up the stairs and had Charlie over his shoulder.

"I knew instantly something was wrong. I asked was he putting him down and he didn't answer."

Panic setting in, Joanne, who has two other children - Lewis, 23, and Jessica 20, noticed Charlie's arms were floppy and grey and rang 999.

She added: "The ambulance service started talking us through what to do. I thought the whole time he had died as his eyes rolled back and he was just grey.

"Paramedics arrived and took over. The whole time I was getting no sense out of Paul but I just put it down to shock.

"I thought it was the teething granules I told him to give him.

"We were told by the hospital to prepare for the worst as they didn't think he would make it through the night.

"He was later taken to Leeds ICU where he started having seizures and was put in an induced coma."

The next morning nurses told them that police from the child protection unit had arrived and they were taken away separately.

At this point alarm bells started going around in Joanne's head as she knew that something wasn't right.

A week after he had been admitted to hospital and transferred back to Huddersfield doctors found Charlie's injuries were the result of having been shaken and also noticed two older bleeds on his brain, meaning it had happened before.

In disbelief, Joanne said: "I thought this is just a nightmare. I am going to wake up soon.

"We were just a normal family.

"I was then informed I couldn't be alone with my son and had to either put him into care or with my parents. For three weeks I had to be supervised.

"Social workers then came to see me at my parents house and told me that there was something that had come up from Paul's past which was similar to what had happened.

"I knew then that he had hurt Charlie.

"Charlie was in hospital for a month and then had to go live with my parents for six months as it was either that or go into foster care."

Explaining the impact on her own mental health, Joanne added: "I am noticing as Charlie is getting older he wants to be more independent and it is hard as the worst thing for me is I will have to start letting him.

"I have major trust issues and am very guarded with people now but he has started going to a respite place and is excited.

"It's been an emotional rollercoaster.

"There was no support for me when this happened so to be an ICON ambassador and to see how it's grown and taken off to help others is amazing."

Paul was given four years in prison after admitting shaking Charlie.

Joanne has been with her new partner Alan for 10 years who has adopted Charlie.

She added: "I will never be able to explain to Charlie what happened him as he does not have the mental capacity to understand.

"He is such a lovely, happy and sociable boy."

ICON stands for:

I – Infant crying is normal

C –Comforting methods can help

O – It’s OK to walk away

N – Never, ever shake a baby

Deborah Gibbons, a lead midwife for safeguarding at Royal Preston Hospital since 1985, said: "This is our second year running ICON Awareness Week to let parents and carers know that babies crying is normal.

"Quite a few years ago we dealt with several cases of abusive head trauma and during Covid there was a 20 per cent increase nationally."

She added: "Two hundred children are hurt or killed annually in the UK.

"We want to raise awareness all year round on this important topic not just for one week."