Inverness mother Shannon Davies tells of her anger towards the "monster" Thomas Haining who killed their 23-day-old daughter Mikayla

A grieving Inverness mother has spoken of her anger towards the "vile" 21-year-old man who killed their 23-day-old baby daughter.

Her ex-partner Thomas Haining was 19 years old when he shook newborn Mikayla hitting her head on a door in his Inverness flat, in Mackay Road, leading to fatal brain injuries on June 8, 2017.

And, instead of calling for immediate help, Haining searched the internet with questions such as "what happens when a baby is shaked hard".

The former shop assistant denied his crimes for two years and was eventually charged with murder before a lesser plea of guilty to culpable homicide was accepted in October this year.

He was jailed for eight years.

As reported in the Daily Mail Shannon Davies (22) said: "Mikayla would have been two-and-a-half now, and it would be the first Christmas she'd really understand.

"She should be here with me and her big sister, getting excited about Father Christmas, but that monster killed her with his bare hands.

"I'll never get over what he did, or how he tried to save his own skin. I wish I'd never met him. He's a vile human being, he should never be free."

Miss Davies first met ex-partner Haining on an internet dating website, while she was pregnant with her eldest daughter from a previous relationship, and at first she thought he was good looking with a good sense of humour.

In the Daily Mail interview she said he "swept me off my feet and quickly we became inseparable" however her friends expressed doubts over him.

After the arrival of her first daughter Haining fully embraced his new parental role and she felt it was almost too good to be true.

He even proposed after four months and it was not too long before he told her he wanted a child of his own.

She said she felt it was too soon after the birth of her first child but Haining was persistent – Miss Davies fell pregnant in August 2016 and Mikayla arrived the following May.

Miss Davies said the newborn was "perfect, like a little doll", however she soon became ill with diarrhoea and struggled to settle.

On the day that she died Haining had suggested he looked after Mikayla while Miss Davies got some sleep, but she was woken during the early hours of the morning as he told her their daughter had stopped breathing.

She said: "I shot out of bed and as I ran downstairs I saw Mikayla's tiny body on the floor. Tom was frantically giving her CPR but there was fluid coming out of her nose.

"My heart was racing and I cried: 'What happened?'. Tom threw me his phone and told me to ring 999."

When the ambulance arrived Haining went with the baby while Miss Davies waited for her father to take her to Raigmore Hospital where she was led by a nurse to her daughter who was by now linked up to life support machines.

When she asked what had happened Haining claimed he had fed her but soon after she had stopped breathing.

The next she knew a doctor came to see the concerned parents to inform them Mikayla had suffered a cardiac arrest, she had skull fractures and police and social services had been informed.

Haining told her they needed to get their stories straight to which she replied: "We just need to tell the truth."

Miss Davies said he was scared that he would get the blame for the injuries because he had been alone with his daughter at the time.

After further tests staff informed the couple that their daughter was "brain dead" and that it was only the life support equipment keeping her alive so they gave their consent for it to be switched off.

Afterwards she said she could not sleep and she was haunted by nightmares and flashbacks of her daughter's final moments.

Four weeks later the police arrested Haining on suspicion of murder. Miss Davies said: "My legs buckled and I began screaming. Through a haze I saw Tom being led away in handcuffs, then I heard a policewoman telling me she was taking me to the police station where she'd explain everything."

She was shown his internet search history that he had made on his mobile phone before he woke her – he had used phrases such as 'baby took a panic attack and now she's unresponsive', 'what happens when a newborn is shaked hard (sic)' and 'newborn in a coma'.

Miss Davies said the realisation hit her and she added: "Tom, the person I'd intended to spend the rest of my life with, had shaken our baby girl to death.

"He'd then taken steps to save his own skin with his Google searches, before lying to everyone. How could he? How could he kill our baby? All his tears, I realised they were for himself, not Mikayla."

A postmortem examination showed Mikayla had died as a result of head trauma – Haining denied all charges and was released on bail.

He maintained the pretence of a grieving father by posting social media messages to his "beautiful princess" and posing for photos by her grave.

However just before his trial was due to begin, two years after the tragedy, Miss Davies was informed that he had finally admitted his guilt.

She saw him enter his guilty plea at the High Court in Edinburgh on September 5 and during the hearing the court heard how Mikayla had been unsettled on that night leading to Haining losing self control.

He was sentenced in October to a prison term of eight years but Miss Davies said: "I'm glad he's not getting away scot-free. But no sentence would ever be enough. I don't understand if he was struggling, why he didn't come and get me?"

"Instead he killed our little girl, then lied and tried to protect himself. It makes me sick with rage, but I know my anger won't bring Mikayla back. But she'll be in my heart always."