A YOUNG father lost his temper and shook his 17-week-old baby daughter to death, a court has heard.

Liam Heyes, 20, was home alone with his baby, Layla Pike, when he is alleged to have shaken her so forcefully it caused her brain to bleed and swell.

She was taken to Alder Hey Children's Hospital, but doctors found no sign of brain activity and she was pronounced dead the next day.

Heyes, of Bray Road, Speke, denies manslaughter.

But John McDermott, QC, prosecuting, at Liverpool Crown Court, said: "The prosecution case is that he caused her death by application of unlawful violence and he caused that death in the form of catastrophic injuries to her brain.

"The likely way, the prosecution say, was that he shook her and caused injuries in that way."

He added: "We don't allege it was a thought-through, deliberate, cold-blooded act. “Rather, it was likely a momentary loss of temper at a very young child, shaking with or without a throw taking not very long, seconds perhaps, but resulting in terrible consequences for Layla Pike."