Father charged with manslaughter after 2-year-old son dies from head injuries

Leo Banks died at home in February 2020 after receiving specialist treatment for two years

Leo’s father, Matthew Banks, appeared at Worthing Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (Wikimedia Commons)

A man accused of killing his two-year-old son has appeared in court charged with manslaughter.

Matthew Banks, 33, is facing the charge after Leo Banks died at home in Chichester, West Sussex, in February 2020.

Up until his death, Leo had been receiving specialist in-patient and out-patient treatment for head injuries he sustained in December 2017 when he was just six weeks old.

It was not until last year, 18 months after Leo died, that his father was charged over his death.

Banks, of Gilbert Road, Chichester, appeared in the dock at Worthing Magistrates’ Court earlier but did not enter a plea and was released on unconditional bail.

During the hearing, he was told his trial would take place at Portsmouth Crown Court, beginning on 11 March with an initial plea and case preparation session.

“Leo died at home, aged two, in February 2020, after receiving specialist in-patient and out-patient treatment for head injuries reported in December 2017 when he was six weeks old,” a spokesman for Sussex Police said.

“The prosecution, authorised by the CPS, follows an investigation by officers from the West Sussex Safeguarding Investigations Unit.”

Banks’ trial is due to take place later this year.