A FORMER part-time firefighter has avoided jail after he admitted breaking his five-month-old daughter’s arm.

Bradley Hookway, of Banbury Road, Kidlington, pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm on July 4 this year.

Prosecutor Cathy Olliver said the 25-year-old lost his temper with the infant while she was sitting on his knee and wouldn’t stop crying.

She said: “He bent her arm behind her back the way police officers do in films.

“She screamed and he knew something had gone wrong. He felt her arm go floppy.”

Miss Olliver added although he sought medical help immediately, Hookway told doctors the injury was caused when his older daughter fell on her sister.

Terence Woods, defending, said his client suffered from Asperger’s syndrome and struggled to deal with stressful situations.

He said: “There have never been any complaints in relation to the older child, or this one before.

“This incident was a complete one- off. He said it was a flash of anger and loss of self-control which he says will never be repeated. He is totally ashamed and terrified by what he did, and accepts full responsibility.”

Judge Ian Pringle told Hookway: “Your daughter was behaving like a normal five-month old and was crying and difficult to control.

“It happens to every parent who has a young child, but what you did was lose your temper and you broke her arm.

“And it is difficult to think of somebody in a greater degree of responsibility than a parent looking after a young child.”

But the judge added there were mitigating factors in the case, such as the defendant’s clear remorse, his medical problem, his lack of maturity and that the incident had been a one-off.

Judge Pringle told Hookway it would be better for him to serve his sentence in the community rather than serving a short prison term.

He sentenced him to 16 months in prison, suspended for two years, with a supervision requirement, 120 hours of unpaid work and a thinking skills programme.

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