A 35-year old man who murdered his on/off partner's two-year old "utterly defenceless" daughter was handed a minimum 20-year jail term today (Thursday).

Ali Jayden Doyle died from a severe head injury she sustained in a house in the Park Avenue area of Dungannon in August, 2021.

The toddler was murdered by Darryn John Armstrong who initially blamed Ali Jayden's one-year old brother for causing the fatal wound by throwing a plastic toy at her which caused her to fall against a fireplace.

Despite this false version of events, Armstrong subsequently said that on the morning of August 6, 2021 he had Ali Jayden in his arms and that he threw the child who hit her head on the fireplace.

He also admitted that he was under the influence of cannabis at the time, was 'frustrated' and lost his temper.

In a further interview with Probation, he claimed he had no memory of what happened due to his drug consumption.

Following the fatal attack, the seriously ill youngster was rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children in the air ambulance.

Despite the best efforts of medical staff at the hospital, the child was pronounced dead at 4.20pm and a subsequent post mortem concluded she sustained a severe head injury caused by impact against a solid surface.

Mr Justice McAlinden said: "We will never know what precisely occurred in the house that morning but it is clear beyond doubt that Darryn Armstrong took that child and inflicted horrifically severe head injuries on her.

"The extend of the force required to cause those injuries to a two-year old child is entirely consistent with an intention to kill that child, to murder her."

Mr Justice McAlinden added it was also clear that "this murder involved the deliberate infliction of a horrendous degree of violence to the head of a two-year old child, resulting in the catastrophic and plainly non-survivable injuries."

As he imposed the minimum term upon Darryn John Armstrong at a Tariff hearing in Belfast Crown Court, Mr Justice McAlinden said he had not expressed any remorse or regret for the "brutal murder" of the "utterly defenceless" child.

Ali Jayden's 28-year old mother Jade Dempsey, whose address is the subject of a reporting restriction, was made the subject of a three-year Probation Order on a charge of wilfully neglecting and exposing her daughter in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to health on August 6, 2012.

She wasn't present when her daughter was killed in Armstrong's Co Tyrone home as she was due to travel to Belfast to buy a double-buggy and had left her daughter and son in the care of her on/off partner Armstrong.

This was in breach of a Child Protection Plan imposed by social services which banned Armstrong from having contact with the youngsters.

He has 77 previous convictions includes charges of domestic abuse and was the subject of a Probation Order when he murdered Ali Jayden.

During today's Tariff Hearing, the senior judge said that both Armstrong and Dempsey had "flouted" the Order Revealing that Dempsey told Social Services her children called Armstrong 'Daddy', he added that at times she hadn't been truthful about her relationship with him to the authorities.

The Judge noted she spent a year on remand in Hydebank following the death of her daughter, that she suffered traumas both in childhood and later in life, that she had experienced domestic abuse and that her four other children have all been taken into care.

He also revealed she currently in a relationship with a man who has a history of both criminal offending and drug misuse.

Making her the subject of a three-year Probation Order, Mr Justice McAlinden said :"The truth of the matter is that unless she is provided with these type of interventions ... there is every likelihood that she will continue to gravitate towards harmful relationships.

"However, next time round it will not be a child who will be exposed to the risk of violence as a result of her poor decision-making - it will be her.

"Through this sentencing exercise, I hope to put in place support mechanisms which will significantly reduce the changes of this young woman becoming yet another entry in this jurisdiction's appallingly bad femicide statistic."

Imposing the minimum 20-year sentence upon Armstrong, Mr Justice McAlinden said the time he has already sent on remand will be taken into account when calculating the date when he is considered eligible for release by the Parole Commissioners.