Primrose Kane was left severely disabled after she was shaken by ‘volatile’ murderer dad Kyle Kitchen as a baby before eventually dying of her injuries several years later
A violent dad has been found guilty of murdering his daughter by shaking her when she was a baby.
Kyle Kitchen, 38, vigorously shook Primrose Kane and either hit her with a hard object or threw her against a hard surface when she was eight weeks old, the Old Bailey heard. The baby suffered serious brain injuries and a fractured skull which left her profoundly disabled and in constant pain. She was placed into the care of her maternal grandmother, and died at the age of six on May 17, 2021.
Jurors were told Kitchen was charged with Primrose’s murder while already serving a sentence for assaulting her. He had previously appeared on Channel 5 documentary The Accused, which centred around Primrose’s mother.
Kitchen denied wrongdoing, but the jury found him guilty of murder today after deliberating for over six hours. The defendant stood in the dock and bowed his head as the verdict was delivered. Judge Mr Justice Murray remanded Kitchen into custody, and he will be sentenced on April 2.
Previously, prosecutor Jennifer Knight KC told how Primrose had lived with Kitchen and her mother Kenzey Kane, 31, in a bedsit in Camden, north London. The couple’s relationship was “frequently volatile” and, on September 29 2014, Kitchen was arrested and cautioned for assaulting his partner, Ms Knight said. Jurors heard Kane had been holding her three-week-old daughter when Kitchen repeatedly slapped her face in a row over the baby crying.
The couple had been alone when Primrose was seriously assaulted in November 2014, the court was told. Shortly before 6am on November 3, Kane called 111 to report that Primrose had gone “floppy” and would not wake up after making odd movements and sounds in the night. During the call, Kitchen was heard to say that Primrose had blood around her nose and was not breathing. Paramedics arrived within minutes and found the baby unresponsive.
She was taken to the NHS Royal Free Hospital in north London, where a scan revealed a skull fracture and serious brain injury. Her parents provided no explanation for how it happened, and Kane said “it’s not like we knocked her or anything”. Primrose was transferred to an intensive care unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where further tests confirmed she had suffered serious injuries and would suffer “significant neuro-disability” in the long term. She remained in hospital for six weeks and upon her release was placed into the care of her maternal grandmother, Maria Kane.
Kitchen and Kenzey Kane were arrested on November 4 2014, and denied assaulting or having witnessed any violent incident which would explain their child’s injuries. Following an earlier trial at Blackfriars Crown Court, Kitchen was convicted of two offences of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, to reflect the fracture to Primrose’s skull and the shaking injuries.
Kenzey Kane was found guilty of causing or allowing serious injury to a child by failing to protect her daughter. Kitchen was jailed for 18 years and Kane was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in custody.
Over time, Primrose developed multiple problems related to her brain injury, including cerebral palsy, feeding issues, an inability to communicate verbally and drug resistant epilepsy. Her quality of life was said to be “very low” and in 2016 the severity of her condition led to the implementation of a do-not-resuscitate order, jurors heard.
Despite her profound disability, Primrose went to a special school in Plumstead, south-east London, from the age of nearly three until her death and was described by her headteacher as “characterful”, jurors were told. On the night she died, Primrose slept in a double bed with her grandmother as usual, the court was told. Just before 5am, Maria Kane woke and immediately noticed her granddaughter’s normal noisy laboured breathing had stopped. Paramedics attended and Primrose was pronounced dead at 5.23am.
A post-mortem examination concluded her death was the consequence of the traumatic head injury from when she was a baby. Before his trial, attempts were made by police to interview Kitchen at Frankland prison in County Durham, where he has been serving his earlier sentence, but he declined to speak to officers.
