unsolved-murders.co.uk
Unsolved Murders
Tags

Charlotte Latta

Age: 10 weeks

Sex: female

Date: 4 Dec 2001

Place: Byron Close, Bishops Waltham, Hampshire

Charlotte Latta died from multiple injuries.

Her father was tried for her murder but acquitted.

She had brain damage and 33 bone fractures to her arms, legs and ribs.

In court, it was said that she had been assaulted on various dates. She was taken to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester on 2 December 2001 after she went limp whilst her father was feeding her, and her injuries were discovered. She was put on a life support machine but it was switched off on 4 December 2001.

Charlotte Latta had been seen with her father leaving a hospital earlier in the day on 2 December 2001 after Charlotte Latta had a routine check-up where she was described as being bright and alert. She had had problems with her feeding previously and had been in hospital for a number of days the month before.

Her father said that he had been feeding her at home and 'Almost instantly her eyes started to shut, I remember thinking 'she cannot go to sleep', so I took the bottle out of her mouth and she started to make a deep wheezing sound and I saw her eyeballs roll back into her head and she started to go limp.'. He then took her to the hospital.

The prosecution said that he had violently shaken her whilst he was feeding her in an upstairs room whilst the rest of his family were downstairs having a meal.

It was also said that as well as being shaken, her head had been hit against a solid surface.

Her father was acquitted after it was heard that it could not be proved that he had been responsible or that he had deliberately harmed her.

However, the judge said, 'That someone had abused Charlotte Latta is beyond doubt. While her father is one of those who could have inflicted those injuries, there is absolutely no evidence that he did so.'.

The police said 'It is clear that Charlotte received inflicted injuries over a period of time prior to her death. Exhaustive inquiries were completed after Charlotte's death to try and establish who was responsible. The police do not intend to reopen this investigation.'.


*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.