Jailed for life: Baby killer who battered girlfriend's toddler daughter to death while she went to New York on birthday trip

Jailed: Ben Raftery has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 18 years for the murder of 23 month-old Roxie Archer

A man who battered his girlfriend’s daughter to death after she left her in his care while she went on holiday to New York - has been jailed for life.

Ben Raftery, 21, left 23 month-old Roxie Archer with devastating brain injuries just hours after her mother Sophie Archer flew to the US to celebrate her 21st birthday.
An investigation revealed she was either pushed or fell down the stairs and tests showed she was punched, slapped and subjected to ‘vigorous shaking’ before she died.

Raftery from Gorton, Manchester was convicted of murder today and ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years.
Ms Archer was just hours in to her five-day break when she got a call to say Roxie had been injured at home. She caught the first available flight back home and found her daughter was on a life support machine. The toddler died hours later.
Passing sentence the Judge Mr Justice John Saunders said: 'It was an appalling crime which involved a grown and powerful man inflicting a number of hard blows on a toddler which were sufficiently forceful to cause devastating brain damage from which she died.

'Roxie was particularly vulnerable because of her age and that at the time of the offence the defendant was entrusted with the sole care of her.

'While I accept that Roxie may not have been easy to look after that day as she was not well and the Defendant had limited parenting experience, I do not consider that to be of great significance when he only had to look after her for one day and it was at his insistence that he had the care of her.'
Manchester Crown Court was told the tragedy occurred in March last year after Ms Archer was bought tickets to fly out to the US for a sightseeing trip. Originally Roxie’s grandmother was due to look after the toddler.

Tragic: Little Roxie Archer (right) with her mother Sophie Archer. The 23 month-old died from a brain injury inflicted by Raftery after her mother had flown to New York to celebrate her 21st birthday

Care: Raftery had been left to care for Roxie at the home the couple shared in this street in Ashton Under Lyne, Greater Manchester

But Raftery, who was not the youngster’s biological father, persuaded Ms Archer to leave the child with him at their shared home in Ashton-under-Lyne because he wanted to ‘bond’ with her.
Now 22, Sophie told the jury: 'I trusted him and didn’t think he would cause any harm to her. I thought they would have bonded, they would have got on, not that anything like this would have happened.'

But in the early hours of March 10, Raftery rang 999 and told the operator: 'My baby’s fell down the stairs. I can’t really hear breathing.'

Defenceless: Raftery had said he wanted to 'bond' with Roxie

Later while Roxie was being treated at Manchester Royal Infirmary, Grant Dutton, the partner of her great aunt noticed Raftery was particularly upset. Mr Dutton said: 'I tried to comfort him by saying it was just a tragic accident. But he said ‘I killed her’. He was very emotional at the time.
'He was crying, he seemed really upset. He was concerned that the police were going to get him and he would get arrested and he would go to prison. At the time we didn’t think too much about it. We put it down to grief and emotion.'

Inquiries revealed in the hours before Roxie was taken to hospital that Raftery posted a photo of Roxie on Facebook, with a caption saying she had hit her head on a door at McDonalds. But the day after she died, he edited the caption on the picture to read, ‘Aah my little princess when she banged her head on the floor’.

Raftery denied murder and insisted the child’s injuries were caused by an accidental fall down the stairs at the house he shared with Roxie and her mother in Ashton-under-Lyne.
He said: 'Roxie called me daddy the first day I met her - I had a bond with Roxie, we were so close - I thought Sophie was the one.'

But Det Supt Denise Worth from Greater Manchester Police said: 'Roxie was a two-year-old little girl who should have felt safe in her own home in the care of Raftery. He abused his position of trust and subjected an innocent toddler to an attack which left her with an unsurvivable head injury.

'We will never know exactly what happened on that day, as Raftery has always maintained that it was an accident. Roxie’s family are devastated by Raftery’s actions and will never be able to see [her] grow up into a young woman, see her get married and have children of her own.
'He has now been jailed, and will have to live the rest of his life with the knowledge that he is responsible for killing Roxie.'

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