A six-week-old baby girl was assaulted by her father while her mother failed to protect her in a “shocking and upsetting” case of child cruelty.

The father, in his 30s, and the mother, in her 20s, lived in Cambridge at the time but cannot be named for legal reasons.

The pair first called 111 at just before 4.30am on January 25 2017.

The mother claimed her partner had accidentally fallen onto the little girl, causing her leg to go “floppy”.

Paramedics arrived and the girl was taken to hospital where she was found to have suffered a significant fracture to her thighbone.

The couple repeated their initial story, however slight changes in the account were noticed by hospital staff.

Safeguarding concerns were raised to police and the baby girl’s father was arrested.

Reports concluded the account given by the girl’s parents was highly unlikely to have caused the fractured thighbone and there had been “no plausible explanation” as to how it had occurred.

A further examination on January 30 revealed the girl had also suffered three fractured ribs and a fractured distal tibia.

The father was charged with causing a child to suffer serious physical harm, while the mother was charged with allowing a child to suffer serious physical harm.

The pair stood trial at Cambridge Crown Court for three weeks in May and were found guilty by jurors after less than a day of deliberation.

They were sentenced at the same court today (October 8), where the girl’s father was sentenced to six years in prison.

The mother was handed two years in prison, suspended for two years, with a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

When sentencing, Judge Jonathan Seely said he recognised the father was involved in a “perfect storm of financial stress and relationship strains”, had been working extraordinarily long hours and was at the “end of his tether”.

He added that the mother had been in an abusive relationship for many years with the father.

Detective Inspector Helen Tebbit, who investigated, said: “This was a shocking and upsetting case in which a baby girl suffered significant injuries.

“The baby’s parents were the people she relied upon to keep her safe and they failed to do this in every way.”

Anyone who has concerns about a child can report this by using the force’s web chat function or calling 101.