A DAD who ran into a busy road, holding his nine-month-old son in front of him, before a Peugeot taxi hit the pair has been sentenced to four years and eight months in jail.

Craig Connolly, formerly of Gerrard Avenue, Bewsey, grabbed his son Kaden from his pram and ran off with him across Birchwood Expressway after his relationship with his girlfriend deteriorated.

The 23-year-old jumped over the railings of the bridge over the M6, with passers-by believing he was going to jump with the baby, before climbing back over and running across the road.

Caroline Harris, prosecuting, said witnesses described the baby as ‘bouncing like a doll’ in the air after Connolly jumped in front of a taxi carrying Kaden who hit his head on the windscreen of the car causing it to crack.

Sky Brookhouse, Kaden’s mother, had been in a relationship with Connolly for four years.

She described him as possesive and bad-tempered but never violent towards her.

Miss Brookhouse said she had told Connolly she did not love him any more before he left their Ramsay Close flat in Birchwood with Kaden in his pram on March 24.

She became worried and rang Connolly asking him to bring her son back but he told her “Now you know how it feels to want something so badly but you can’t have it.

“One of us has to get hurt, it’s either you, me or Kaden.”

Miss Brookhouse described her son as ‘very lucky’ after he escaped with grazed ankles and bruises.

She revealed she has since moved house, fearing what Connolly might do when he is released.

Connolly told police his ‘head was mashed’ and denied trying to kill his son.

John Wynn Williams, defending, said: “It was a moment of madness.

“He would like to rekindle a relationship with his son in years to come.”

Judge Roger Dutton said: “Your actions have been described as in the heat of emotion but it was a series of quite deliberate acts which were selfish and self-indulgent.

“You were unable to deal with issues in your private life and took it out on an innocent little lad who is your own flesh and blood.”

A restraining order against Miss Brookhouse and Kaden was also put in place.