A brute who assaulted a 10-day-old baby while high on cocaine has been jailed for two years and eight months.

Steven Butler lost his temper and punched the child “with some force” in the back.

“On his own account the baby has fallen forwards and struck its face into his knee,” said prosecutor Patrick Dennis.

“He has then grabbed hold of a foot, pulling the baby back up.”

Maidstone Crown Court heard the 26-year-old had taken about £200 worth of cocaine either the night before the assault or around the same time in December 2015.

“This was heavily fuelled by cocaine,” said Mr Dennis.

The child, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was taken to hospital the next day and treated for a few days for extensive bruising to the eyes, back and foot.

Mr Dennis said Butler, of Egerton Road, Ringlestone, Maidstone, had a bad cocaine habit - and at one stage was using £700 worth a day.

The amount shocked Judge Philip Statman who said: “That is nine or 10 grammes a day.”

The judge said the child had “an enormous haematoma (bruise)” and it was only good fortune there were no broken bones.

In pleading guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm, said Mr Dennis, Butler had admitted deliberately assaulting the baby.

When police searched his home they found a bag of cocaine weighing half a gramme in his bedroom.

Tom Stern, defending, said Butler, who also admitted possessing cocaine, understood the seriousness of his predicament and recognised his fate.

“It is not one he relishes, but he accepts he brought it on himself,” he said.

“He has taken steps to place himself on a road which is somewhat distant from the one he was on at the time.

“He truly regrets his actions. He has taken positive steps to seek help for his drug use. It led to suspension of his judgement.”

Passing sentence, Judge Statman said: “You displayed violence to that baby which was truly unforgivable. In your drug-induced state you hit the child with your fist on the back.

"You displayed violence to that baby which was truly unforgivable" - Judge Philip Statman

“You realised you were not going to get away with it and you confessed. It is right to observe you have shown remorse for that which you have done.

“You have sought to address your addiction. Make no bones about it, it is an addiction. It is not casual use of a Class A drug.

“I am quite sure when you are fuelled up, as you have been in the past, on cocaine, you are a very different person to the sober person I deal with today.

“I take the view the path you have embarked on has a long way yet to go before you are wholly rid of the curse that cocaine brings with it.”

Judge Statman said he regretted to say that the case was inadequately covered in sentencing guidelines.

“I bear in mind that sentencing remains an art form, not a science,” he said. “It is not a tick box exercise.”

Butler’s name will appear on a list that bars him from working with children or vulnerable adults.

The judge ordered that a report about Butler’s “mental welfare” should go with him to prison.

Investigating the case was Detective Constable Becki Taft, who said: "Cases like this are thankfully very rare but also upsetting and difficult for those working on them and I would like to thank all those involved, including medical professionals, who have helped us to gather best possible evidence for this investigation.

"We have been able to prove conclusively that these injuries could not have been inflicted accidentally and were intended to cause harm.

"Butler has now accepted full responsibility for his actions and is rightly serving a custodial sentence."