Couple facing jail after staging their baby's death on a London bus

A couple who staged their 16-week-old baby’s death on a London bus are facing jail after a judge slammed them for failing to protect her. 

Father-of-25 Jeffrey Wilshire, 52, was seen on CCTV giving his girlfriend, Rosalin Baker, 25, the thumbs up as she boarded the number 25 bus in Stratford with her child Imani’s body strapped to her chest.

Some 20 minutes later she raised the alarm but remained ‘cold and calm’ as panicking passengers tried to save her daughter’s life.

Imani, who was born prematurely at 28 weeks, was rushed to hospital, but was found to have already died from a fractured skull and brain injuries.

Medical professionals believe that the child, who weighed just 1lb at birth, had been dead for up to a day before she arrived at Newham General Hospital.

Baker had claimed that Wilshire had caused the child’s horrific injuries before forcing her to get on the bus in a bid to frame her.

But Wiltshire denied ever having been violent towards any of his 25 children – two of whom have died – or the 18 women who gave birth to them and said he had no idea how Imani had been killed.

A jury of eight woman and three men today acquitted the pair of murder after 14 hours and 28 minutes of deliberations, but found them guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child.

Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC adjourned sentencing to May 18, telling Baker and Wiltshire: ‘That child’s life must have been painful, distressing and bewildering and the failure, at the very least, to protect her is a very serious matter indeed, which can only result in a substantial custodial sentence.’

The Old Bailey heard how the couple lived together in Wiltshire’s tiny bedsit in Manor Park, where it was claimed Imani fell victim to at least three severe assaults in the nine days before her death.