Man whose 'cold sore kiss' killed son, brutally attacks ex partner

A UK man whose cold sore kiss led to the death of his 2-month-old son, brutally attacked his former partner at the latter's house in the town of Bootle earlier this year.

Carl Maclaren, 44, spiralled into a self-destructive life of alcohol and drugs after his son Kaiden's death. He blamed himself after the baby died of multiple organ failure in 2012 after contracting the cold sore virus, herpes simplex.

The Liverpool Crown Court heard that he had trouble coming to terms with the death of his son Kaiden. He started drinking heavily which destroyed his relationship with his children's mother, Marie Clare McCormick.

Maclaren was so upset that one day he broke into her house in Netherton, Bootle, on May 11. He accused her of being with someone else and started hitting her, according to prosecutor Paul Blasbery.

He held her by the hair and began punching her. The woman rolled herself into a ball on the floor, but Maclaren did not stop. He kept stamping on her. "She was screaming for help and she was terrified the assault would not stop and genuinely thought she was going to be killed," the prosecutor added.

He left the property shouting, "Watch, I'm going to get those kids taken off you." The woman immediately called the police. But before the police could reach her house, Maclaren came back in an inebriated state and started apologising to the woman.

He was arrested by the police the same day. Recorder Daley said that the police could see the pattern of his shoes on McCormick's face.

Maclaren, who hails from Seaforth, later pleaded guilty to burglary involving an attempt to inflict grievous bodily harm on 37-year-old McCormick.

He has been sentenced to spend three years in jail by Liverpool Crown Court. The judge also imposed a five-year restraining order on him. He has two previous convictions in connection to incidents of violence but had never received a jail sentence, according to a report in The Mirror.