Single Father Beat his 4year old daughter to death after winningcustody of her so he could claim more benefits and a house

A dad beat his four-year-old daughter to death just three months after being granted custody of her. What an evil act!

According to Dailymail UK;

Carl Wheatley, 31, admitted killing Alexa-Marie Quinn in March last year after the local authority granted him custody from foster parents but denied it was murder.

But a jury dismissed his plea to manslaughter by reasons of diminished responsibility and found the supermarket worker guilty of murder.

Wheatley joked with prison officers just before the verdict was read out and made no reaction when the jury foreman said ‘guilty’.St Albans Crown Court in Hertfordshire heard how he had bragged to a colleague that he would get a two-bedroom house and £1,700 in benefits if he got custody of his daughter.

He convinced social workers that he could look after her but instead of caring for the youngster the father-of-two beat her repeatedly and went to considerable lengths to cover it up.

Prosecutor Christopher Donnellan QC said: ‘In the weeks before she died when he hit her he hit her hard and he hit her more and more.

‘He went to considerable lengths to avoid Alexa-Marie being seen by anyone.‘He knew at the time what he was doing and that he was causing her harm.’

Beaten: It was the 66th bruise on Alexa-Marie’s body which caused her death, a post mortem revealed

He added: ‘He lost his temper with her, she was just four-and-a-half years old.‘This wasn’t just a single blow, this was a sustained period of hard beating of her.’Alexa-Marie was found dead at her home in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, on March 12 last year.

Wheatley claimed he called 999 two minutes after Alexa-Marie stopped breathing but the court heard that she could have been dead for hours.He sobbed in the dock as the first 999 call he made to emergency services was played in court.He told the operator: ‘I’ve had her for a few months, I got a bit frustrated with her and I harmed the poor child.’

Professor Rupert Risdon, who carried out Share mortem, said he had never seen injuries like those suffered by the four-year-old.

He said he found 65 separate bruise marks all over her, but it was the 66th bruise which had caused her death.

This was described in court as one massive bruise that stretched from her abdomen down her thighs and buttocks to her lower leg.