A COUPLE who left their 11-month-old baby to starve to death have been jailed for five years each.

Neil and Alison Baker, of Hunsdon Close in Walcot, admitted the manslaughter of their baby Kimberley and were sentenced yesterday at Bristol Crown Court.

In court Kimberley was described as looking like "a famine-ravished Third World child".

The Bakers, who had three other daughters, lived in squalor, with excrement on the walls and no bedding for their children.

Sentencing the couple, Mr Justice John Royce described Kimberley as a "pitiful, seriously emaciated mite" and said photographs of her dead body were "truly shocking".

Prosecuting, Andrew Langdon QC told the court that Neil, 29, and Alison, 25, had repeatedly refused the help of social services.

On one occasion a health worker knocked at the door and windows of the couple's council house to no reply, only to see Neil leave the house as she drove away.

The pair did not work but received £330 a week in benefits and Neil Baker had a gambling problem, the court heard.

They have since had another child and all four youngsters have been taken into care.

"Between September 2004 and April 2005 the health visitors could not get to see Kimberley," Mr Langdon said.

"There were continued attempts by those concerned with the welfare of the family to visit the home. There are indications that the defendants didn't want this contact."

On April 14 a health worker did manage to get into the house.

"There was a strong smell of urine in the hall and the lounge," Mr Langdon said.

Despite the concerns over Kimberley the health worker did not go upstairs to see the baby.

Ten days before Kimberley's death, Alison, who was pregnant with a fifth child and suffering from depression, was taken into hospital.

Mr Langdon said: "Neil Baker had the full care of the four children during that period."

Mr Langdon said her poor state of health would have been obvious to the dad.

The day before Kimberley's death Neil went to the out-of-hours medical centre in Shrivenham Road for a syringe.

He lied to staff, telling them he needed it to administer medicine to his sick daughter. In fact it was to feed her as she had become so malnourished that she could not keep her food down.

"They failed to put Kimberley's needs before their own," Mr Langdon said.

"Needs, as it turns out, that could scarcely have been more extreme."

Alison woke up at 4.45am on April 26 to discover her daughter was dead.

Paramedic Adina Newton, who was sent to the scene, said Kimberley "looked like a famine-ravaged Third World baby".

Kimberley weighed just 4.6kg, the average weight of a six-week-old baby. Seven months before her death Kimberley had weighed 6kg.

"If she had continued to put on the weight she should have been 10kg or more by the time of her death," Mr Langdon said.

Her body was also covered in ulcers where she had been left lying in her own filth.

Dr Hugh White, who carried out the post mortem examination, said the cause of death was starvation, dehydration and neglect.

The couple claimed Kimberley had not been eating for two weeks but Dr White said his findings were "not consistent with this claim and it looked a significantly more long period of neglect and inadequate nourishment".

Mr Langdon said: "We suggest that the relationship between these defendants had deteriorated during the seven month period from September to April.

"It's clear that by February, March, April, Alison was herself a health risk.

"It was nonetheless not beyond her to notice Kimberley's needs or to ask for help. Nor should Neil Baker not have noticed that help was required.

"In the days and weeks before she died there were countless opportunities for the defendants to contact those that they knew would be able to help Kimberley."

Peter Fortune, defending Alison, said she was a isolated woman without friends or family to support her.

Ian Lawrie, defending Neil, said he had supported his children well until his relationship with his wife began to fall apart.

"It's clear that he has gone through a period of emotional self flagellation about his significant failures," Mr Lawrie said.

The judge Mr Justice John Royce said the couple would each have received seven and a half years in jail if they had not changed their plea to guilty.

Sentencing them to five years each he said they would be considered for release after half that time.

Strong words from judge

The judge Mr Justice John Royce described photographs of Kimberley's emaciated dead body as "truly shocking". And he said it was unforgivable that the couple had put their own interests before that of their daughter. "In the early hours of April 26, 2005, Kimberley Baker died," he said. "She should by that time have been a thriving, lively 11-month-old girl and she was not. "She was a pitiful, seriously emaciated mite, dehydrated and starved with severe ulcerations to her buttocks. "Her weight was that of a six-week-old baby. Her skin fell loosely around her. Photographs of her are truly shocking. "Her chance of a decent life or any life in this world had been snuffed out by the appalling negligence of you two. "It appears that at the start of it you looked after her satisfactorily. However it is equally clear that by the late period of 2004 you were reluctant to allow health visitors to visit. "Your care of this child in 2005 manifestly deteriorated. "That appears to have coincided with the deterioration of the relationship between the two of you." The judge said that he accepted Alison Baker had a recurring depressive disorder and borderline learning difficulties and that Neil Baker had a low IQ and liked taking risks, which was clear in his gambling. He said it was to Neil Baker's credit that he had not tried to lay the blame on his partner. The defence had claimed that Kimberley's health had deteriorated in just two weeks but the judge said: "It appears obvious that it was somewhat longer than that. In your case Neil Baker, although you did not have as much to do with the day-to-day care, on April 16 and 17 when Alison Baker was in hospital you changed Kimberley on a number of occasions. "Her emaciated state must have been obvious to you at that time. Furthermore on April 25 when you went to the surgery to obtain a syringe, lying to those at the surgery about its purpose, it was obvious that you knew full well the very serious state that your daughter was in. "This was not a case of a moment of uncontrolled frustration such as often exists in baby shaking cases, this was a case where there was time to reflect. "The state of affairs is also illustrated by the fact that rooms in the house reeked of urine and faeces. "There was faeces on the walls and it must have been obvious to you both that you were protecting yourselves rather than going to seek expert advice. "Had you gone to seek expert advice it may very well be that Kimberley lived. Instead you decided to save your own skins. That, as parents, is unforgivable."