A MAN who shook a baby girl "in a moment of pure wickedness" -- leaving her permanently disabled -- has been jailed for four years.

Wesley Sandham admitted shaking the 22-month-old toddler in an attempt to stop her crying.

Sandham, aged 24, had been drinking and had smoked cannabis after being left alone to care for the girl.

The child, now aged three and who cannot be named for legal reasons, cannot walk unaided and has only limited use of her right hand.

Doctors also feared for her sight after she suffered retinal damage in the incident although recent reports now suggest her eyesight is returning to normal. The child is now wary of men, according to her mother.

Doctors said the force Sandham used in shaking the tragic youngster was to the force experienced by car crash victims.

Bolton Crown Court was told that when the child lapsed into unconsciousness, Sandham panicked and went to find his girlfriend at a nearby house.

He arrived at the door holding the unconscious child and claimed he had heard a bang and found her on the floor. He said she might have meningitis.

Jailing him for four years, Judge William Morris said that, because Sandham had been drinking and had smoked cannabis, he was in no fit state to care for the baby.

Judge Morris said that, though the child had made good progress, she could not walk properly and her right side is disabled. She is now learning to write with her left hand.

He said Sandham had admitted that he had intended to cause really serious harm but he accepted that it had been an isolated and impulsive act out of character.

Judge Morris said, because of the seriousness of the assault, he would extend the period of licence where Sandham was subject to recall to prison by an extra two years.

Sandham, formerly of the Tonge Moor area in Bolton, appeared at Bolton Crown Court for sentence.

He had admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent on the day his trial was due to start last month.

Prosecutor Mark Lamberty said Sandham had moved in with the baby's mother at her Tonge Moor home and on the night had been left to care for the child while her mother went to a nearby friend's house.

At around 9pm on the night of January 3 last year, Sandham's girlfriend left him in charge of the baby while she visited a neighbour.

But just after 10pm Sandham turned up at the neighbour's house holding the unconscious child and claimed she had fallen from her cot. An examination of the baby at hospital showed bruises where the baby had been gripped and brain damage consistent with severe shaking.

Defending, Philip Martin said that, while the shaking was an "act of pure wickedness" by Sandham, to his credit he had gone to get help immediately. He said that if Sandham had not taken immediate action, the child might have died from her injuries.