Boy dies nine years after dad's horror abuse left him blind and brain damaged

Bradley Nelson was left severely disabled when he was a baby after his dad Darren Spreadbury brutally attacked him in 2016. He tragically died last month at the age of nine

A new police investigation has been launched after the death of a boy left severely disabled when his father attacked him as a baby.

Bradley Nelson from Whitby, North Yorkshire was declared blind and brain-damaged by medics after he was ruthlessly attacked by his dad, Darren Spreadbury, in April 2016. The seven-month-old was unable to walk, talk or feed himself after the violent incident at their home.

He was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy and spent years in and out of hospital for appointments and surgeries. In 2018, his father was jailed for four years after shocking scans revealed that Bradley’s brain injuries had been caused by shaken baby syndrome.

Bradley died at Scarborough General Hospital on October 22 after feeling unwell at school. He was nine years old.

His mother Sharon Boocock, 44, said he was “always smiling and happy” despite his ill health. Sharon, who lives with her three other children, said: “Bradley was blind because he shook him that hard, he snapped his optic nerve and he had a can of Coke’s worth of blood between his brain and his skull.”

The mother-of-four remembers waking up on April 6, 2016, to her ex-partner Darren telling her Bradley had stopped breathing. She rushed downstairs and started performing CPR before an ambulance arrived and Bradley was taken to A&E at Scarborough General Hospital. The police were called after a CT scan revealed Bradley had suffered a brain injury doctors feared was caused by physical abuse.

“They asked me what happened and I said: ‘I’ve just been woken up and he’s not breathing, I don’t know, I’m not a doctor’,” said Sharon. "When they said it was an unexplained, non-accidental head injury, I was like ‘what are you on about?’ It actually took me a long time to believe that they were right.” A few weeks later, Bradley’s father, Darren was charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and handed a 10-year restraining order at York Crown Court on May 25, 2018.

To this day, Sharon does not know what happened, but medical results show Bradley had 300ml of blood between his brain and skull and was shaken so hard that his optic nerve snapped – leaving him blind. After the attack, Bradley, who was born “fit and well”, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. “We needed 24-hour care because he was unable to walk, talk or feed himself,” said Sharon.

Because of the brain damage it was “unsafe” for Bradley to swallow, so in April 2021, age five, he underwent PEG surgery to insert a feeding tube into his stomach. Unfortunately, his bowels were damaged during the operation, and Bradley was rushed back to hospital a week later. Doctors performed surgery to repair his bowels, but after the operation, Bradley sneezed causing his wound to open up again. “Bradley did a sneeze and the whole wound, from the bottom of his rib cage to the top of his groin literally exploded, leaving all his middles on the bed," Sharon recalled. "We ended up living with his bowels outside his tummy in a bag for the next year.”

Over the coming months, Bradley repeatedly developed sepsis and when the infection returned with a vengeance in October 2021, Sharon was told “he’s not going to survive this one”. Doctors feared Bradley was on the verge of having a cardiac arrest but after three tense days, he pulled through.

Despite his miraculous recovery, Bradley remained in a very weak state and was at risk of succumbing to another bout of sepsis. Sharon was told they could attempt a risky operation with a 50-50 chance of survival, otherwise he would most likely never leave hospital. She agreed and after spending 12 hours on the operating table, 10 days in an induced coma and eight weeks recovering, Bradley was finally discharged in July 2023.

Sharon continued juggling her job as a bartender to earn “whatever money she could” and said she was “learning to live again”. Last month, Bradley was sent home from school after complaining about feeling sleepy and not being himself. Sharon took him to the children’s Rainbow Ward at Scarborough General Hospital where doctors said Bradley had probably caught a virus.

Sharon returned home around tea time to care for her other children, leaving Bradley in hospital with her mother Lynda. At around 10:30pm, she received a phone call from doctors to say Bradley was not “doing well” and jumped back in the car. She arrived at the hospital and Sharon was getting Bradley ready for bed around midnight, when he suddenly “decked it like a sack of spuds” and fell unconscious. “He went instantly blue and stopped breathing – I shouted for somebody,” said Sharon. “His numbers went from nought to one hundred in a second.”

Sharon and her partner Jonny Nelson were told Bradley had suffered a seizure before he was placed on a ventilator to help his breathing. After 20 minutes of chest compressions, Bradley’s heartbeat returned but shortly afterwards he suffered another “massive” cardiac arrest. “They just couldn’t get him back,” said Sharon.

Last week, police informed Sharon they were investigating the cause of his death. A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “We have been made aware of the death of a nine-year-old boy from the Whitby area, who sadly passed away in hospital on October 22. The child had complex medical needs and an investigation into the cause of his death is currently underway, reflecting due process in such circumstances.”

A fundraiser has been launched to help pay for Bradley's funeral. To donate visit here.