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Twisted thug who left tot blind and brain-damaged battered by inmate behind bars
Christopher Fulton was set upon by life-sentence prisoner Sean Hegarty last week.
We can reveal Christopher Fulton, who in April was ordered to serve an extended 22-year prison sentence for the shocking and brutal attack on a young baby boy, was set upon by life-sentence prisoner Sean Hegarty last week.
Fulton (35) and his wife Amanda Fulton (36), from Mosside near Ballymoney, were convicted last year and jailed over a distressing series of assaults which left a tiny tot blind, brain-damaged and fighting for his life.
Hegarty is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 18 years after the bodies of Caron Smyth (40) and Finbar McGrillen (42) were found on December 13, 2013, in a house off the Ravenhill Road, Belfast.
Sources in Maghaberry Prison say Hegarty accused Fulton of spiking a rolled-up fag which left him with nasty hallucinations.
Amanda and Chris Fulton
News in 90 Seconds - August 12th
When he recovered, 45-year-old Hegarty went berserk and plotted a bloody revenge.
'Fulton gave Sean a roll-up he had smuggled out of the kitchen,' said a jail source.
'There was no funny smell or taste to it, so Sean thought it must be OK — but it must have had mind-altering drugs inside it which wrecked Sean's head.
'After Sean smoked it he thought he could see ghosts and that people were watching him all the time. He was really distressed and it took ages for him to come down from it.
'Sean waited for the right moment and he put a bottle of frozen water into a pillowcase and beat the sh*t out of Fulton and his cellmate. He left them both bloodied and in a bad way.
'Nobody can understand why Fulton would do something so stupid. Sean Hegarty is one man in the jail you don't want to mess about. He also suffers mental health issues, so why they decided to trick him and get him tripping out is amazing.
'Sean has been in the CSU [Care and Supervision Unit] ever since as punishment for attacking them.'
The Sunday World has also been told that Sean Hegarty was already in a heightened state because he was moved into a part of the prison which housed abusers.
As reported here before, Hegarty was the victim of serious abuse at St Patrick's Training School on Belfast's Glen Road during the '90s, where he met his murdering accomplice Ciaran Nugent.
Amanda and Chris Fulton
A former inmate who was at the boys' home at the same time told the Sunday World in 2017 that being brutalised in the state institution turned Hegarty from an easygoing person into a violent ticking time bomb.
'Sean is a victim of historical abuse and Maghaberry put him into Shimna House in November 2023, where he was surrounded by prisoners who have been convicted of historical institutional abuse — the same kind of abuse that happened to Sean when he was growing up.
'Is it any wonder he did what he did last weekend?'
We know the identity of Fulton's cellmate who was also attacked by Hegarty but we aren't naming him for legal reasons as he awaits trial for serious offences.
But according to sources in the jail, nobody is losing any sleep over Christopher Fulton getting a hiding.
'Fulton is despised for what he did to that poor baby so there's absolutely no sympathy for him in the jail,' said a source.
'After the way he left that child he's lucky he's still alive — there's no shortage of dangerous people in here who'd like to get a shot at him.'
Amanda Fulton was found guilty of cruelty and causing or allowing the four-week-old child — known only as 'P' during the trial — to suffer physical harm in an assault which left him blind and brain-damaged.
Despite just being sentenced to just four years in jail, she has now lodged an appeal against conviction based on a complaint about how the jury was directed on issues of demeanour during the trial.
Her evil husband is mounting a separate challenge to the 22-year prison sentence imposed on him for causing grievous bodily harm with intent and cruelty to a child.
Both appeals are due to be heard after the summer recess but, after five years of denying all knowledge of how the baby received the shocking injuries, the pair quickly turned on each other at the trial in Newry Crown Court — blaming each other for the severe damage the child suffered.
Giving evidence on his own behalf, Christopher Fulton told the jury that 'it wasn't me and there was only one other person in that house — and that was Amanda'.
Charges were brought against the couple after doctors discovered the baby's injuries in November 2019.
The baby boy was initially brought to a GP in an unresponsive state before an urgent transfer to hospital. By that stage in a coma, he spent 10 days in intensive care.
Christopher Fulton accompanied the child to hospital and was described as appearing unconcerned throughout.
He was found guilty of carrying out an assault on P. The child sustained a traumatic brain injury, lacerations to his liver, a total of 27 rib fractures and further fractures to his legs. Read more
P now suffers from severe dystonic cerebral palsy, is blind, has an intellectual disability and epilepsy, and can only communicate by crying. He is fed by a tube and has a life-limiting condition.
In sentencing Fulton, Mr Judge Irvine KC said: 'On two separate occasions, you failed to get medical treatment and inflicted life-threatening injuries on (the baby) and as a result a devastating impact on his life.
'You demonstrated aggressive behaviour to him before these dreadful events occurred and even after these assaults took place, you displayed a total disregard for his wellbeing.'
Sean Hegarty had 72 previous convictions and was released to a property that did not have electricity, despite power being required for his electronic tag, just before the two murders he committed.
Caron Smyth and Finbar McGrillen had sustained multiple injuries including fractured ribs and damaged organs, as well as head, neck and chest wounds consistent with being punched, kicked and stamped on.
Hegarty's accomplice Ciaran Nugent was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the two murders.
The pair snorted cocaine as they went about the horrendous murders before attempting to clean up the scene, dumping their cigarette butts and other items in bins near the property.
But a coroner at their inquest said the PSNI's lack of action contributed to their deaths as Hegarty should not have been released into the public.
A Police Ombudsman's report concerning the handling of the case in 2017 found that the police decision-making which led to Hegarty's release from custody was flawed.
