A man who murdered a toddler by throwing her at a fireplace has been handed a 20-year sentence.

Two-year-old Ali Jayden Doyle’s mother, Jade Dempsey, was given a three-year probation order after pleading guilty to wilfully neglecting and exposing the little girl to unnecessary suffering and injury.

Darryn John Armstrong admitted throwing the toddler, who subsequently died from a catastrophic head injury.

Her skull had been fractured after she hit a fireplace. He pleaded guilty to her murder in May this year.

Ali Jayden died on 6 August 2021 at Armstong’s home in the Park Avenue area of Dungannon.

Jade Dempsey, 28, whose address is the subject of a reporting restriction, had left her two youngest children, Ali and her one year old brother, with Armstrong at the house before setting off to the bus stop to travel to Belfast.

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

In sentencing Armstrong, Mr Justice McAlinden said that he had not shown “one scintilla of remorse or regret” for his actions.